He's an ex-PMC mercenary attending high school somewhere in Japan
by AK-103
Summary: Meet Naruto, an ex-PMC mercenary. Due to circumstances, he must abandon the battlefield for a Japanese high school student's life of tranquility, peace and youth. Because of his background, Naruto doesn't expect himself to fit in easily with his new environment. But he'll manage. Will have irregular updates!
1. Arrival

Japan, or to be more accurate, Chiba.

It's a peaceful Monday morning and for all off the schools in Chiba city, it is also the day where they will receive a new, fresh batch of students to be this year's sophomore. The sun is up, indicating the sign of an early morning. The clouds share the color of cotton, looking as fluffy and solid as ever whilst in fact they are not. It's a relatively chilly morning in Chiba, the temperature being at a constant 14 degree Celsius, making it for a great start-of-school day for teenagers in Chiba.

The roads are constantly filled with manageable traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians alike. The trains are naturally packed with people off to do their business. Students are off to attend school, employees are off for a grueling day at office and those who are either not working or not attending school; are about to do their daily activities. In other words, it's pretty much like the usual, but busier since it's basically rush hour. The types of people mentioned above are the ones that you'd see any other day, but there are times when you'll see rare sights.

He stands tall at a height of 175 centimeters, has blonde hair and blue eyes. Now these features alone are enough to garner the attention of the people around him because he does not look Japanese, like, at all. But the clothes he's wearing is not doing his sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb situation any good. Simply put, he's dressed like a soldier.

Or at least someone from the military.

He wears the color of the desert on his skin and if he is standing in the middle of one, he'll definitely have no problem blending into the surroundings. The sleeves of the blouse are rolled up, showing the world his solid arm. A black digital watch is strapped to his right hand for the purpose of telling the time. The blouse lacks the distinctive pattern; it opts to stay a bland tan color. The same goes for the t-shirt worn underneath the blouse, but the trousers however have the distinctive Digital Desert Camo pattern all over it. The pair of combat boots he's wearing however follows the bland tan color like the blouse he's wearing. Those with keen eyes should notice that he lacks the name patch, embroideries or other sort of military uniformed patches that are normally found on standard military attire. He also carries a rugged, leather pack that stores, no doubt, important items.

But it is not only the clothing, blonde hair or blue eyes that make him stick out.

The three whiskers like marks on each side of his cheeks are also unique.

The gaijin – Japanese term for foreigners, usually western – steps out of the train while hefting his bulky leather bag on his shoulder, his stride is long and straight, as expected from someone who marches a lot. As soon as he steps onto the platform, he begins to make his way out of the station. After making sure that he does the correct procedure, like exiting through the proper ticket gate and whatnot, he's finally outside the station.

"Haah…" he exhales, before inhaling air once again. His lips stretch into a small smile. Small, but it's a smile nonetheless.

"Master Kakashi, so this is Japan…" the young man, he is young as he is only sixteen years of age, says out with a hint of nostalgia and melancholy. "It's as you've said… beautiful." He looks around to take in the scenery. His Japanese is fluent, but his accent is noticeable.

Everyone is busy and that amuses him. His old master often exaggerates how busy his homeland could be, the man generalized the populace as being workaholics, even. Seeing the amount of people dressed up for work or business entering and exiting the station seems to have make him believe in his previous master's words. The more he observes his surroundings, the more aware he is of the attention he's receiving. It's not every day that the Japanese gets to see a retired, sixteen year old PMC operative out here spacing off in the middle of the plaza, no?

Chuckling at his own joke, he shakes his head before resuming his walk. He has a place to go to, a destination. But the destination he's supposed to be at is the last place a retired PMC operative like him would find himself in. Don't believe him, then listen to this:

He's supposed to go to and **attend** a local Japanese high school.

Unbelievable, right? Unexpected, definitely.

So we have a retired, sixteen year old, private military company operative about to attend a normal Japanese high school? Sounds like a very terrible fiction story plot if he ever hears about it… but that is his reality now. Say goodbye to the hot and hellish deserts of the Middle East, say farewell to the cold and unforgiving winter of the Eastern Slavic region … now, he has to say hello to a normal Japanese high school life. It took him a while to accept his current situation but he's, more or less, come to terms with it now. So, you begin questioning, why does a person like him have to attend a Japanese high school in the first place?

Well, that's a very good question.

…but that's a question for another time.

Right now he has to… eh… deal with Japan's social, quote on quote, _wariness_ towards uncommonly dressed gaijins like him.

"Eto… _ekusukyuzu mii misutah_ …"

Our ex-PMC operative sighs mentally. This is the third time today…

Maintaining a smile, albeit a wry one, he tries to handle the two police officers like his initial two encounters. "Ah, I can speak Japanese."

Relief scatters throughout the officers' face as they smile after hearing his fluent Japanese. "Is that so, then excuse me for assuming." The head officer bows, prompting his partner to do the same.

The blonde foreigner waves his hand dismissively. "It's okay, I understand."

"Then, if it is alright with you, may I take a look at your passport and ID card, please?" the senior officer asks with his polite voice and speech.

"Of course." Hefting out his pack, he reaches into it to retrieve two important items – and probably the most important items he should have with him on all occasion – out from the pack. A passport along with an ID card. He hands it to the officer. "Here you go."

"Excuse me." the officer takes his time to check the papers and it takes no more than five minutes. "Naruto… no last name… a student ID? Are you here for educational purposes?"

The ex-PMC nods his head. "Yes. In fact, I'm on my way to the high school that I have to attend today…"

A mixture between apologetic and understanding expressions cross the officer's face. "Ah, then you need to be in school right away. School starts not before six, but depending on the high school you're going to, you won't make it in time."

A look of worry crossed the ex-PMC's face. "Is that so, then I guess I'll have to be late at my first day…"

"No you won't." the senior officer smiles. "We'll give you a ride on the patrol car. I'll talk to the teacher to explain your situation."

Looks like his old master is also right about the Japanese being nice and polite people. Something about the Japanese being the Canadians of Asia or something like that… of course, that's only a joke.

"Thank you."

So the police officers take him to the patrol car. They let him sit on the back while the senior officer and his partner, presumably a junior, sits in front. The senior officer is the one driving. The engine starts and the car moves, driving at an appropriate speed. In the middle of their journey, the junior starts up conversation.

"So, uh, are you a soldier?" the excitement is obvious in his voice, it seems that he's been containing it for a while. Of course, the sudden question only earns him a nasty reprimand from his senior.

"Oi, Kashima, don't be rude!"

"S-Sorry, senpai…"

Naruto laughs. "It's okay officer." He says reassuringly. "And no, I'm not a soldier… technically."

"Technically?" this time, it's the senior officer who speaks. "But you are a soldier, right?"

"I was a soldier." The blonde corrects. "I'm officially retired now."

"Oh, why?"

"Kashima!"

"S-Sorry!"

The senior officer sighs. "Forgive my rude subordinate, this is his first day on the job…" he trails off, hearing the foreigner on the back saying that it's fine. However, he himself cannot help but have his interest piqued in the topic that his junior has brought up. "So, you're retired…"

"Yes." The blonde answers again.

"Where were you stationed?" the junior officer, Kashima, ignores the nasty look his senior is giving him. But the senior officer does not reprimand his subordinate, for he is too curious.

"Iraq." Is the soft spoken answer that the blonde gives to them.

"Iraq… huh?" there's a hint of fascination from the junior officer's voice. "Did you… did you get to shoot people?"

"Kashima!"

"Sorry!"

"Again, forgive this insolent subordinate of mine, he'll get some scolding later on…"

This time, the chuckling is not as hearty as the ones before. But, still, he answers. "Yes. I've shot people before."

Then, the atmosphere and mood inside the car becomes quiet. The junior does not know whether or not he's satisfied with the answer the blonde has given him and the older and more senior officer sighs. "You see Kashima, you shouldn't ask people about these things. When you've shot another human being… it stays with you. The feeling you felt when you squeezed the trigger, the scream that the guy let out when the bullet hits him… it's stuck to you. And if they die-"

"-a part of you dies with them." finished the blonde.

"…right." The older officer sighs. "It's not easy dealing with these kind of things, that's why they made you go through those mental tests that you kept on complaining about." His tone takes a scolding turn. "You never know when you'll have to shoot someone. And in our line of job, it's important to know what to do when that time comes."

"Well said, officer." The blonde says.

There are some truths in the officer's words. The first kill is always the hardest one to forget. You'll remember the face of the person you shot, the moment his body collapses to the ground and the shout he lets out when your bullet hits him. He remembers his first kill. He was only nine when he did it. It took two shots to kill the guy. The first one knocks him down, and the second one was the killing shot. However, there're some things that made his first killing experience different from his fellow mercenaries. Unlike them, he didn't shake or suffer from any breakdowns. He did not feel regret or any other related emotions to it. It was like breathing. He did a necessary action, an action that he's expected to do for the entire duration of his career.

His first kill did not turn him into a shaking mess of PTSD induced victim, unlike the rest of his former buddies.

That is why it was so memorable.

"Say, what school is it that you're attending?" the senior officer asks.

"Soubu High."

"Ah, that's the same school that my son is in." The senior officer chuckles at the irony. "It's not that far from here, in fact, if we just take this intersection here, we'll arrive in no time."

The police car makes a left turn, entering a road near several housing residences. After driving for several more meters, the car is stopped by a traffic light. The part of the road the patrol car is at is also a part of a four way intersection. From the pedestrian sidewalk opposite of them, a young lady with a very iconic pink hair tied to a bun can be seen chasing her pet dog that's presumably escaped from the leash that was meant to hold it back.

"Uh, senpai, that dog, there's a car coming in from the left!" the urgent voice of the junior officer warns the senior of the incoming danger that's approaching.

"Ah, shit, hold on, I'll-

But he's interrupted by the sound of the backseat door being kicked open. The two officers see a flash of tan leaping from their side of the road to the other side, catching the dog and all the while avoiding the car that's almost hit the both of them. The desert garbed teen, unfortunately, doesn't land without injury, however. His arms, because his sleeves are rolled up, are scraped and are bleeding. The same goes for his forehead since it impacted the curb when he rolled off the road. The dog slips past his cradle, whining as it attempts to relieve its savior by licking the fresh wounds on his arms.

"Ugggh…"

The blonde groans, but the feeling of pain does not linger long. He can feel something soft, moist and warm touching his arm or the bleeding wound to be more accurate. Opening his blue eyes, he comes face to face with a dog. A hot dog dog, you know, those long ones with the short and stubby legs? The dog whines and licks him some more, prompting him to respond.

"I'm alright buddy, I'm fine…" he says this in English, but he does not expect the dog to understand him.

"Hey, are you okay?!"

The sound of running draws closer, looks like they're coming for him. Feeling something warm trickling down his forehead, touching it, he's greeted by a very familiar thick red liquid. "Great… my first day of school begins with me bleeding…" Muttering to himself, he does so in English. Standing up, he wipes the blood that's slowly seeping down to his face with his arms… which are also bleeding, making his face even redder with blood.

"You're bleeding son, do you feel lightheaded?" the senior officer asks. "Should I call for a medic?"

"Ah, no, no." Naruto waves him off. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Several more footsteps can be heard coming towards their position. This time, from two different people.

"I'm so sorry! My dog Sable jus-oh my God… you're bleeding!" the pink haired girl from earlier. Her face twists into shock and horror when she sees the bloodied state the blonde boy is in.

"Officers, this was an accident." An old, fancily dressed man who appears to be in his mid forties enters the conversation. "We did not see the dog and this young man so-"

"It's fine sir," the senior police officer says, stopping the driver of the black limo from speaking, "he said that it's fine, right, Naruto-san?"

The blonde nods. "It's alright, this is nothing really." And he really means it.

Regardless of the reassurances he's receiving, the driver is still worried. "But will you be okay, young man? Surely, you need medical attention?"

But the blonde is strangely persistent. "I'm alright." How many times have he said the word? "I have a first aid kit in my pack inside the patrol car…" he's about to go and retrieve his pack, but the older officer stops him.

"Let Kashima get it for you. Kashima!" he orders his subordinate to retrieve the blonde's bag. The junior officer scrambles to retrieve the pack as per ordered by his senior officer.

"Here you go!" Kashima hands the heavy and bulky bag to Naruto, who's now holding it with more ease than Kashima.

"I-I'm so sorry, Sable, he-"

"It's okay miss, no one got seriously hurt." The senior officer reassures the young teenager. "But it wouldn't hurt to keep your dog on a tighter leash next time."

"Y-Yes officer…"

While the two officers are dealing with the young lady, the chauffeur is assisting Naruto with first aid.

"Do you need any help?" the old man's voice asks with the genuine intention of helping.

Naruto blinks a few times, before nodding. "Sure. Eh… let's see…" he struggles to say what he wants to say in Japanese. Taking out a relatively small pouch with a Red Cross symbol on the front, he opens the content of his first aid kit. "Please tear open these alcohol swabs for me." he points to the square paper packaging with the words 'Alcohol Swabs' written in English.

"Of course." The driver begins to do as he's instructed. Tearing open three of the paper wraps, he hands it over to the blonde teen. "Here."

"Thank you." Naruto utters his thanks before rubbing the swabs on the wounds on his arms first. The isopropyl soaked swabs feel cold to the skin, it stings a little when applied to the wounds, but it is a necessary process. The alcohol helps prevent bacteria from entering his bloodstream and causing an infection. After wasting two of the swabs on the wounds on his arms, he uses the final one for the scrape on his forehead. After disposing off the used swabs and paper packaging into a small plastic bag he stores inside the same pouch, he reaches for the bandages and tapes next.

"Let me help you with that, young man." The driver insists.

"Ah, thank you." With the help of the driver, Naruto gets his wound dressed. The wounds on his arms and forehead are dressed properly. His arms are wrapped with a thin layer of bandages and the same goes for his forehead. Of course, there are blood stains on his uniform due to the blood that dripped off from his forehead. All in all, he looks like a soldier who's just returned from a bloody battle.

Wouldn't be the first time for him.

After finishing lecturing the young lady about road safety and hazards and all that, the two police officers dismisses her, but she remains. Turning their attention back the injured blonde, they ask him one last time. "You're okay right?" asks the senior officer.

Naruto is slightly annoyed by how many times the question has been asked to him. "For the last time, I'm fine officer. No one's seriously hurt."

Sighing in relief, the driver suddenly speaks up, "Please excuse me, I'll have to consult what has happened to my passenger."

"Oh, you have a passenger with you?" the officer asks. The senior one.

"Ah, yes."

"Hm… since the situation is not serious and everything's dealt with, I won't have to make a case out of this." relief spreads through everyone's chest, including Naruto's. He doesn't want to get in trouble on his first day in Japan, this is also his first day of school, what will his old master think about him now? "You're free to go, sir."

"Of course. Thank you officer and my deepest apologies to you too, young man." The driver gives Naruto a very low bow.

Naruto gives the driver a quick nod. The group watches as the driver returns to the car. The car then soon drives away in the direction it was heading towards to before. Naruto watches the car leave, but as he is about to turn around and speak to the police officers, a female voice prevents him from doing just that.

"A-Ano… um… soldier-san… sorry about earlier, my Sable he… ran off…" Naruto has to look down in order to meet the girl face to face. Based on her look, she does not appear to be older than him, but his Western genes may make him look older with the taller height, tanner skin and more defined cheekbones. She's carrying her puppy dog with her and her expression is obviously showing how sorry and guilty she is.

Sighing, Naruto gives her a flat look. "I said it like a thousand time already but I'll say it again: I'm fine. There's nothing to be worried about." His expression falls, turning a little bit downcast. "And I'm not a soldier."

"O-Oh, if you say so…"

"So, kid, what's it now? Do you want us to take you from here or will you walk?"

Looking at the senior officer, Naruto gives him nod. "I'll walk from here. It's nearby, right?"

"Yeah. Just follow the road that the car from earlier took and you should arrive at the school."

"School…?" the young girl mutters, unheard by the three men.

"I had Kashima write out a permission slip earlier stating the reason for your lateness. All that's left from that point is for you to explain your side of the story." The officer shrugs. "And, uh, aren't you supposed to be in your school uniform if you're attending school?"

Naruto snorts humorlessly. "Haven't got it yet. I plan on getting mine today."

Shrugging one last time, the senior officer tells his subordinate to hand Naruto the permission slip he had him write before. Muttering his thanks for the slip, Naruto says his goodbyes to the two kind officers before seeing them drive off to the distance. He's about to turn and leave the area, but the owner of the dog that nearly cost him a trip to the hospital prevents him. Again.

"A-Ano, are you going to Soubu High?" she asks him with curious excitement.

Nodding his head, Naruto confirms her question. "Yes I am."

"Then may I know your name? I'll be transferring tomorrow so…" her face turns red, realizing what she's doing is actually embarrassing. "Hauuu…"

Sighing, Naruto shakes his head. "Name's Naruto. What about you?"

"Yui. Yuigahama Yui."

* * *

"Hmm… it seems that I understand your circumstances, Naruto…san." The head counselor of the school mutters as he reads the permission slip. He gives Naruto a look, his eyes glancing off the paper. "As for your uniform… I'm afraid that we won't be able to give you one right now. The transfer papers are received but we're not able to requisition you with a full uniform just yet, delivery will not arrive until one this afternoon."

Currently, he's inside the counselor's office talking to the head councilor himself. As it turns out, the school he'll be attending is actually one of the most prestigious schools in the city. They have a variety of facilities for sports, education and even a medical wing or an infirmary.

Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto speaks, "Do you know when I will get my uniform?" he has no problem with attending school with his current state of clothing. But you see, including the ones he's currently wearing, two more spare shirts, pants and socks are all the clothing he has with him! He can't change into anything else until he's inside of his new residence.

Originally, the plan was for him to unpack his stuffs in his new residence. But his old master gave him a last minute message saying that he had to go to school directly as soon as he reached Chiba. This threw the plans he had for the day into shambles, but like the good merc he was, he had to endure with his current situation.

Humming, the head counselor then says, "I should be able to get you a uniform by the end of school today." That's reassuring. "For now, you will have to make do with your current clothing, I'll make sure to inform the rest of the faculty members about you."

"Thank you."

Smiling, the aged counselor nods in return. "No problem. Now, if you would follow me, we will introduce you to your new classmates and teacher. Homeroom is currently in session and I'm sure that they're done on role call by now."

Standing up from their seats, the head counselor leads Naruto through the school's halls. Naruto follows the older man in silence, letting him lead him to his classroom. He takes in his new environment with slight uneasiness. This is his first time in a real school institution. Whatever form of education he's received earlier in his life are mostly from his former master and the people he met when he was younger. Even so, he couldn't really recall getting a proper form of education. It was all about shooting people, military tactics and all sorts of stuffs that involves warfare.

This is to be expected, after all, he was raised in a military base after all.

Being a war orphan in a cruel country somewhere in the Middle East with the appearance of a Westerner was hard. He was the prime target for abuse and subjugated to beatings and all sorts of violence. He grew up in a rebel occupied military base, forced to become a child soldier at the early age of six. Fortunately, he was too pathetic to hold a gun, so they made him do other tasks like mess hall duty, cleaning duty, inventory sorting and all sorts of menial labor. He'd grown up with other war orphans whom he was on pretty good terms with. They'd grow up under the constant abuse of the older and tougher men. Bullied, abused and beaten in the daily. Those who were labeled useless by the rebels were treated lower than dirt.

They'd feed you with less food than the ones who had to fight.

They'd beat you up more.

And they'd use you to do things like disarming mines or target practice.

It was hell.

But one day, something happened.

The base he grew up on was raided by what they thought was the Coalition Forces. But no, as it turns out, it was all the doings of one man. One man managed to face an entire troop of rebel soldier, killing everyone. It came to the point where the rebels had to use the orphans, including him, as meat shields. He remembers that day as clear as if it has just happened yesterday.

His friends were killed by the rebels as an attempt to prevent the man from attacking them. Despite his cries, despite his warning that it was useless to do that, they continued to kill his friends. Until it came to the point where he was the last orphan left out of all that was killed.

Only then that man acted.

That man killed everyone. Every single rebel soldiers in that base were dead from his weapons. It was only him and the invader that night.

' _Why?'_ was all he asked.

And the answer he received was, _'Sorry.'_

 _Sorry_.

Something inside of him snapped that day. He tried to kill that man, but failed. That man took him into his organization, a private military company that goes by the name of Leafcorp to be an operator.

That day, that man gave him the name 'Naruto'. That day, 'Naruto' was born. That day, that man became his master.

…and that day…

His new life began.

"We've arrived, Naruto-san."

The counselor's voice snaps him out of his trance. He's just recalled a very important memory. It's not the type of memory that he'd like to recall every now and then, yet it's the only memory that he can easily recall without having to feel angry. The counselor tells for him to wait while he steps inside to explain things to the teacher in charge inside. He waits outside, leaning against the wall, with his bag on the floor next to him.

"Naruto-san, come in." the head of the head counselor peeks out as he motions for him to come inside.

Breathing in and out, Naruto cannot help but get slightly nervous.

As expected, the moment he enters the room, whispers erupted. He ignores them, opting to stand in front with his back straight and expression stoic. He has the class's undivided attention, that's for sure.

"Class, I'd like to introduce you to a new foreign transferee." The head counselor says. "Hiratsuka-sensei, I'll leave Naruto-san in your care." He whispers to the female homeroom teacher who nods.

The female teacher, a lab coat wearing beauty, coughs. "Please, if you would introduce yourself."

Naruto gives her a firm nod. His form relaxes as he opens his mouth to introduce himself. "My name is capt-" he clicks his tongue at the blunder. "-Naruto. No last name."

" _Kepu_ … Captain…? Is he trying to say that he's a captain?"

"Yeah and it's in English too… is he from the military or something?"

"He has got to be. I mean, look at his uniform, and not to mention the bandages and bloodstain on him…"

Their obvious whispering has gone too far and fortunately, the homeroom teacher is there to diffuse the situation. "Alright, settle down!" with the authority matching that of a squad leader, Hiratsuka-sensei has managed to reintroduce silence into the class.

She turns her attention to the transferee who is still standing in front of the class. "Naruto-san, the head counselor has informed me of your situation. You will sit at one of the empty seats available of your own choosing and you will meet me at my office later today for further discussion about your situation."

"Yes ma'am." The blonde salutes his homeroom teacher.

The homeroom teacher lets a smile form on her face. "Looks like your behavior is accurate to the way you're dressed."

' _I can't help it!'_ is what Naruto's thinking. Despite people's subjective view of PMCs all over the world as an organization of trigger happy, cocky and hot headed people; Leafcorp actually instills discipline into their program. So you can't blame him for saluting his homeroom teacher!

Now that he's cleared from the floor, he makes his way to his seat. On his way there, he's re-gathering all of the attention that were on him earlier before. He chooses a place that's located on the last two rows from the back, the second line from the right. It's the next place closest to the window. He takes his seat, his posture rather stiff, probably due to all the stares that are still on him.

"Alright everyone, open your book to pages five and eight." The homeroom teacher, Hiratsuka-sensei, then continues, "Naruto, since you haven't gotten your books yet, share Hayama's book first."

Looking to his left, he's met face to face with a charming young man with dyed orange hair. The boy smiles at him, saying, "Nice to meet you, Naruto-san. I'm Hayama Hayato, let's get along from now on, shall we?"

Naruto blinks a few times. "Affirmative."

"Ahaha, drag your table close to mine, it's easier to share that way."

"Sure."

Thus begin his first day at school.

* * *

"Ne, ne, Naruto-san, where are you from?"

"Why are you covered in bandages?"

"Are you some sort of soldier?"

He understands and tolerates the first two questions, but the last one is getting quite repetitive. He'll be honest here: he has no idea on how to handle folks his age, especially regular civilians. What makes them and him different is that they were raised to live normal lives, get normal jobs, have a normal family and hopefully live a life that ensures happiness for generations to come.

But him? No. He cannot afford to have that kind of luxury. Those things are beyond him, the chances of him getting a pinch of that kind of life is very small…

…at least that's what he's used to think, until now. On the first day of school in Japan, they'll only make you attend homeroom period and then students will have to go to the auditorium for an assembly. The assembly is your typical start-of-the-year speech with the school's principal delivering most of the speeches, a few words of honor from the student with the most exceptional score from all of his or her entrance exams combined – it was a girl if he remembers correctly – and the closing speech to conclude everything. Then, you're free to leave. That is it, really.

So that's why they

Noticing that their newest edition is being pressured, Hayama steps in to intervene. "Maa, maa, guys I think that you should let Naruto-san easy. This is probably his first time in Japan and maybe he's tired after dealing with the immigration."

Naruto notices that the moment this Hayama boy speaks, everybody quiets down. That goes to show just how much charisma he has, but something doesn't feel right to him. But he gives the other boy a nod as a sign of thanks. He has most of his classmates surrounding his table; both girls and boys are crowding him as if he's a victim of an IED explosion.

Shifting uncomfortably on his seat, the blonde finally speaks to answer the questions that have been laid upon him in a chronological order. But before answering, he needs to get a few things clear. While they didn't really give him any order to not reveal his mercenary backgrounds, telling these kids about it doesn't seem to be the smartest of moves. Obviously, he cannot say that he just happens to dress like a military operative because people from the other side of the pond do that, he's pretty sure that these kids are smart enough to not buy that reason, so he'll have to stick with the military background archetype and blur out some lines.

"I am originally from the United States but I have spent most of my childhood in the Middle East." He says, bending the truth to his advantage. "And yes, I do sort of have a military background."

Awed mutterings can be heard from the crowd.

Naruto realizes that, if he wants to get used to his new life, he really needs to brush up on his Japanese and personal social skills. He spent most of his childhood fighting men twice or even thrice his age, not socializing with normal civilian teenagers like these kids. Even though his Japanese is fluent and well, he still has more to learn when it comes to reading. He's fluent in five main languages: English, some Arabic influenced languages, Russian, Japanese and the language of guns. The order does not necessarily imply his mastery over them, for your information.

"That's so cool… but what about the bandages? Did something happen to you?" this question is brought up by one male student who is of no great importance.

"Yes, something happened." Naruto says in a tone that hints out his unwillingness to talk. Checking at his wrist watch to make his acting even more convincing, he's more than eager to exit the classroom. "If you would excuse me, I'll need to see Hiratsuka-sensei now." It's after school, after all, so it's logical to leave now.

"Do you know the way to the faculty office, Naruto-san?" Hayama, whose face and name Naruto has etched into his memories, asks him with the obvious intention of assisting him.

"Yes, I was there before earlier today." The foreign student says, reassuring the shorter boy with a short but firm nod. "I will make my way there with no problem."

"O-Oh, okay."

The entire class watches as the tall foreigner exits the classroom while hefting the bulky leather bag on his shoulder with relative ease and once they're sure that he's outside form an ear shot, they explode into chattering once again.

"Did you see how blue his eyes are?"

"I know right? Gosh foreigners are just so dreamy."

"Can't believe that he's from the military. Which country do you think he's from?"

"I dunno, the US maybe? He said that he was from the US… but that still doesn't explain his age, though."

"I know right…"

Hayama's eyes linger at the door of the classroom.

He does not know why, but something tells him that his high school year will be something short of ordinary now that they have a foreign transfer student as unique as Naruto. His conscious demands him to try and approach the transferee and establish a friendly relationship, but he gets the feeling that it will not be as simple as that. Ignoring how different his life is with the average Japanese teenager due to his family background, when compared to Naruto, their background is probably as different as oil and water.

Regardless, that does not mean that he cannot try and be sociable to the other boy.

He'd rather make friends than enemies, after all.

* * *

"Please take a seat, Naruto."

Naruto is used to the sight of cigar and the smell of smoke, so when his homeroom teacher lit up a stick of cigarette that she retrieved from the pack which she keeps inside the pocket compartment of her lab coat, he is not too bothered by the sight. But the thought of a teacher smoking in front of her student still raises some questions in him, aren't they supposed to abstain from doing such things in front of a student?

Regardless, it seems that he will have to get that question answered another time. He takes his seat on the couch with the blue, synthetic cushioning. He sits up straight and his pack is on the floor next to his right foot. There are documents spread on the coffee table placed in the middle of the, no doubt pertaining to him.

"The head counselor explained your situation briefly to me, but I would rather hear it from you yourself." She exhales a cloud of carbon monoxide into the air.

Nodding, Naruto then asks, "What would you like to hear?"

But his homeroom teacher replies with a question instead, "Before you answer, let me ask you first, will you answer every question I ask you?"

Taken back by the question, Naruto is suddenly wary. Looks like his teacher is sharper than he thought. Shaking his head, he gives her answer to her second question. "I'm afraid that there are restrictions on how much information you can get out of me, sensei." His tries to make his voice sound apologetic. "But I will, however, tell you as much as I could."

Satisfied after hearing his reason, Shizuka nods. "Then you can start telling me about why you chose this school as your choice."

He has a cover story to stick and though it's been formulated, reviewed and tested many times; it all depends on how he makes it sound like. He needs to make sure that his story is convincing, even if there are truths in his story; it does not necessarily mean that Shizuka will believe him.

"Originally, any school would do, but my legal guardian is native of Chiba and he has a home here somewhere in the city for me to occupy whilst he is away on his business trip." Naruto explains. He's made sure to prepare answers just in case something like this happens to him. No, he knows that he'll get asked a lot when he's in Japan, that's why he prepared these answers. "But as for the reason why this school specifically, I do not know. My guardian probably cherry picked from a list he had with him.

"So your guardian is Japanese?" Shizuka asks, the cigar poking out from the corner of her lips.

"Yes, he is native to Japan." Naruto answers.

"May I ask why he's not here in Japan?"

Naruto chuckles, but the smile quickly disappears just as soon as he answers her question. "I'm sorry but all I can say is that he's away on a business trip. He's made sure to leave me with all the necessary papers and documents in order for me to live in Japan."

"I see…" Shizuka nods. "And you say that you'll have lodgings?"

"Yes. Initially, my guardian wanted me to move into his house located somewhere in the city, but it's too far from this school so he had to scout for a closer living residence. I have the address written in the papers, have I not?"

"Yes… you did." Shizuka sighs, but still managing to keep the cigarette in between her lips. "Forgive me if I sound like I'm interrogating you, Naruto, but as one of the school's counseling teachers, it's a part of my job to be nosy like this." she explains her reasoning. "And your documents are all checked and everything's fine. You're set for three years of a Japanese high school life."

Allowing himself to smile softly at his homeroom teacher's attempt at humor, Naruto nods. "Thank you, sensei."

"You can go now. I'm sure that you have a lot of things to do." She then says, "Oh, and make sure you get your uniform from the head counselor."

With that said, Naruto excuses himself from the faculty room.

After getting his uniform from the head counselor, he exits the office and finds himself in an empty hallway. It should be expected, most of the students are probably already on their way home now. Using his memory as guide, he makes his way to the school's entrance. There are still some students and they look like they're about to leave. He soon finds himself to be at the receiving end of some more staring, something that has been annoying him for the whole day.

Walking outside the school's compound, he takes out a slip of paper from the front chest pocket compartment. It has an address written on it and unfortunately for him, he does not know where it is. In fact, he might as well consider himself lost if he's walking further away from the school.

"I should've asked the teacher about the address…" he mutters as he curses himself for his own stupidity. "Oh well, I guess I'll just have to ask around."

Asking around turns out to be harder than he thought. Most of the people he tries to get their attention from either ignored him or pretended that he doesn't exist entirely. Some were even putting on their earphones to make it look like they're listening to music while in fact they were not. They just didn't want to deal with him. So this is what his master meant about Japanese people being reserved… regardless, found a police box located on the corner of a street and managed to get directions from them. The directions the officers gave him are clear enough for him to follow and in fact, he's almost there.

"A house. A grey house with green gates… hm…" that's the only detailed description of the house written on the paper, but the address should be clear.

After what has seemed to be an hour of walking, he finally stumbles upon a white house with green gates and the same address as the one written on the paper.

"Well… this is it?"

Do not mistake his tone for disappointment, because it isn't. He expects to get something like a low cost apartment or something like that for him to live in, not a legitimate house. The exterior is clean; its walls are painted white and the gate doors green. After unlocking the gates with the one of the many keys that were given to him prior his arrival in Japan, he enters the front yard before making his way inside the house. The interior is… surprisingly furnished. There are lights, furniture, and it's in a state that one could consider clean. The first floor is where the living room, kitchen and dining room as well as the veranda to the backyard.

Going up the stairs, there are not one but three bedrooms in this house. And that's surprises him. Did his master prepare this house for him only or what? He knows that Leafcorp pays a lot of money to their employees, especially if you're a combatant operative, but a fully furnished family house just for him? This is too much. He enters one of the rooms, the biggest one out of the three, and decides that it will be his. Placing the bag down on the large queen sized bed, Naruto is startled when he feels buzzing on his chest.

It's his phone. Looking at the caller's ID, he immediately answers the call.

"Master Kakashi, you're one kind bastard."

" _Hahaha, you're welcome kid. How's the house? You like it?"_

"Yeah, it's nice. Too nice… in fact, I think you might have some ulterior motives…"

" _Maa, maa, can't I just be a responsible guardian and master for his precious pupil just once?"_

"…don't speak like that, master Kakashi, that's disgusting."

" _Mean as ever, Naruto. But anyway, how's your first day in Japan? Good?"_

"If you mean getting question more than two times by the police, nearly getting into an accident, and being treated like you're some sort of alien by the masses are good then; yeah, I guess my first day in Japan is good."

" _Haha, don't be like that kid, you'll get used to life there. But, I take it that you've settled everything with the school?"_

"Yes. And you shouldn't worry about anything, I'll do my best to not stick out from my future peers."

" _You know that's impossible, Naruto."_

They share a laugh over the phone.

" _Anyway, you have your savings with you so you'll have to live off that. I can't really provide you with anything else since I'll be busy for the year."_

"You're still not done in Chechnya?"

" _Nope, we're never done here."_

"Alright then, good luck and stay safe master Kakashi."

" _Well aren't you a considerate one. I should be the one saying that, kid. Anyway, talk to you later, Naruto."_

The line ends and he places his phone on the nightstand next to the bed. It's still early, around two in the afternoon, and he should have enough time to take a quick bath, change into fresh clothing and grab some food from town.

But first… a quick nap won't hurt.

As he closes his eyes, he cannot help but think how things would transpire from here onwards. Obviously, he'll have to get used to the culture here and learn more about the Japanese language if he wants to live in Japan.

"Japan, huh?" he utters. "Let's see if it's as peaceful as they say it is."

Then, he drifts off to sleep.

* * *

 **Just a one shot idea that struck me after watching both seasons of the anime Jormungand and The K-2 Korean drama. You can see some similarities between this and the two aforementioned series.**

 **For now, this is just a one shot.**

 **Unless you guys want otherwise.**


	2. Starting Out

" _ **Ready?"**_

Hesitation. Focus. Finger above the trigger.

A nod.

" _ **Go."**_

Moving. Under the cover of night. Kalashnikov dirty. But working.

His fingers strum across the guitar strings with such smoothness that it produces a sound so pleasing that it is carried by the wind for the rest of the world to hear. He inhales, the movements of his wrist and fingers coming to a halt.

" _ **Four hostiles, make it quick."**_

Gunshots. Four of them.

" _ **Area clear. Kills confirmed."**_

Blood. Oozing out of four adult men's body. Warm. Red.

Then he exhales and his hands resume where they left.

" _Spi, mladenets moy prekrasnyy, Bayushki-bayu_

 _Tikho smotrit mesyats yasnyy V kolybel' tvoyu_

 _Stanu skazyvat' ya skazki, Pesenku spoyu_

 _Ty zh dremli, zakryvshi glazki, Bayushki-bayu… bayushki-bayu…"_

And his strumming ceases altogether.

He finds peace sitting on the school's roof as he is the only there with no one else to disturb him by approaching him to ask questions that are, more or less, related to his past. Speaking of the past, it has been one year ever since he transferred and enrolled in this school. And what a long year it was. The first few months were… eventful. He got to learn a lot of things about the Japanese culture, the language itself and how quiet the life of a Japanese high school student could be.

He no longer wears the desert tan colored outfit that he wore the first time he arrived in Japan, instead, he now dons the school's male uniform. It has been tailored perfectly, matching his figure and form. The shoes, however, can use a little bit of modification as they are a little bit too tight for his liking. His hair, which used to be short and minimal, is now longer, unkempt but manageable. Aside from his hair, nothing changed that much for him physically. All in all, he's still the same gaijin that arrived one year ago in Japan.

He expects two things when he first thought about living in Japan. Peace and quiet. And he got what he expected, peace and quiet, it's been that way for the whole one year. No fighting, no armed attacks, no shooting HVTs… nothing. And it was nice. Really nice. He quits Leafcorp for a reason and that reason is very personal, but it's not uncommon.

Simply put, he doesn't want to kill anymore.

No. Killing is, while he will not deny that sometime it is necessary to kill, not healthy. Killing for him is like staying awake for a whole day straight without a wink of sleep, he has no problem with it, but the more he does it, the unhealthier it gets. He has been killing for more than seven years of his life and to be honest, it's getting boring for him. When he consulted this dilemma that he has with his master, his master told him that regardless of whatever decision he makes, he will support him all throughout the way. And he did, he got him to Japan and even provided a house for him too.

Speaking of houses, he's been living off his life savings in order to go through the day. With all the amount of money in his bank account, all of the accumulated salary that he has yet to use from the very moment he's 'hired' into Leafcorp, he should be able to live a lavish life for the next ten years or so. But he sees no need to spend more than he needs. Water, electricity and gas bills aside; most of his expenditures are spent on food and transportation, that's about it. Internet? He has his phone with him.

Still, it won't hurt him to get a job. But that is pretty much impossible, considering his lack of compatibility with the service industry.

He'd rather raid a militia compound somewhere in Afghanistan rather than work in a convenience store…

Aside from his lack of compatibility, there's also a crucial matter that has gone unsolved for the past one year.

His social life.

Not to make it sound so serious or anything but his social life is below the average of what a normal person would receive. Sure, some people try to approach him and interact with him, but after they get what they need, they do not talk with him again. If his social life is to be shown on a line graph format, the first few months would show the incline of the amount of attention that he receives on the daily and eventually it will reaches its peak, then it's followed by a very steep decline.

However, it isn't like he's completely bothered by this, in fact, it has its upsides too. He gets to focus and immerse himself in his studies more, he has more free time to attend more lectures, more workout time and many more. This is not Leafcorp where you keep silent and do everything your client wants you to do. No. Now, he gets to make decisions. Decisions that will determine how his 'new' life will be like for the years to come. But he too realizes just how important it is to socialize.

And don't get him started on how important social skills are to finding a job…

Shaking his head, Naruto sighs as he lifts his body up from the floor. He holds the guitar by its spine. He borrowed it earlier from the music room and he has to return it by the end of today. He'd stay up here longer, but lunchtime is about to end and he has some assignments to do.

Walking down the stairs from the roof, Naruto is greeted by the noisy and crowded third floor corridor bustling with life. The third floor is where the third years' classrooms are and he's a second year, so his classroom is still a floor below.

"Hello Naruto-kun!"

"Naruto-kun, have you had lunch? Want to share mine?"

"Stop it Ayaka, that's so sly!"

Smiling, he gives the group of girls a small wave with his other hand. They swoon at the reaction they receive, but the blonde does not stay long enough to see them squealing and gushing over him.

Stopping by the music room, he returns the guitar right where he took it from. Exiting the room, he immediately sets off to his class.

Perhaps he does get some attention, only not the kind that he wants.

* * *

"Alright class, you're dismissed."

A small cheer and relieved groans erupted from the students.

"Remember to do your homework and don't forget that we'll be discussing more about the topic in depth tomorrow."

Naruto packs his books into his bag, doing so at his own pace. He's fully accustomed to the things that he should bring to school. Basically, books, food and more books. That's all the things you'll need in school. Oh and your phone too.

"A-Ano… Naruto do you mind if you come with me for a second?"

Looking up, he takes a moment to pause his packing of books. His gaze is met by one of the few faces that he's familiar with, but in her case, it's almost impossible for him to forget about her.

Tilting his head, the blonde asks, "Whatever for, Yui?"

Ah, yes, Yuigahama Yui. The owner of the puppy dog who he saved one year ago. She's the girl with the pink hair styled into a bun, pretty amusing if you ask him. She's one of the few people that actually talks to him, but most of his conversation are actually done with her. Yuigahama Yui is the only person he talks to sometimes during class, excluding teachers.

Personally for him, he thinks of her as being a nice girl, as proven by how much people she seems to associate herself with. She talks to everyone and constantly radiates an air of cheerfulness and outward exuberant to others. But there are also moments when he thinks that her personality is a little bit overwhelming.

"It's for a favor, yeah, a favor!" the pink haired girl exclaims bashfully, a trait of hers that Naruto has gotten used to. "Y-You see, I wanna buy some ingredients in the supermarket to bake some cookies, you see, I've been interested in learning how to bake lately so-so… haauu…"

Typical, Naruto thought. She needs someone to accompany her because it's probably in her right mind to drag a person along to help her carry the bags, not that there's any problem with it, but this is the fourth time she's asked him for a favor this week. The previous three times were far more reasonable as in: helping her carry some papers to the faculty office, helping her distribute out assignments that the teacher has asked her to do and screwing on a light bulb in the Audio Visuals room. But something like ingredient shopping? Isn't that too personal?

He's aware of how… one sided his relationship with Yui is. She's the one who does most of the talking while he's the one who listens to her talk. It's been that way ever since she transferred into the school, which was just a day after his transfer. Speaking of which, he remembers how insistent she was in trying to make it up to him about the incident with her dog. Of course, feeling uneasy, he said that it was okay and that she didn't have to do anything. But Yui persisted, she insisted on doing something so that at least she didn't have to feel guilty about leaving scars all over him.

Not being in the position to make the girl feel even more upset, he told her that if she bought him bread and milk at the cafeteria, then he'll accept her so called 'apology'. He thought that they'll settle matters there and not talk to her from that point onwards, but oh no, he's wrong. Ever since that point onwards, Yui's been the only person, girl moreover, he talked with for the entire first year of his high school life.

Aaaaand now we're here.

"Baking, huh?" Naruto tests the word out in his mouth, slowly, he frowns. "Aren't you terrible at cooking, though?"

A look of shock crosses the girl's face, before disappointment settles in, making her feel and look all the more dejected. "Uuuh… you're so cruel Naru… you don't have to make it sound like I'm completely hopeless at cooking!"

Raising a finger, Naruto goes to defend himself. "But you are hopeless at cooking." He says, his voice as flat as ever. However, the frown on his face stretches into that of a smirk. "You even said it one time during our conversation at exactly four days ago, during lunch time, fourteen minutes before third perio-"

"Stop, stop, stop!" The girl is like a red steamroller. She covers the blonde's mouth, literally, with metaphorical hot air blowing out of her ears like the steam from a steam engine. Her face can rival a tomato easily without any effort. "And how can you remember something so specific like that? Even I don't remember that, and I was the one who spoke!"

Pulling her hands from his mouth gently using his hands, Naruto then crosses his arms. "Well, to answer your question in order: unlike you Yui, I'm well aware of my surroundings. That means I'm aware of the time, day, location, people I talked with, things I did, and whatever topic of conversation that I was having at a particular moment. And as for the last one, it's not that strange. People tend to ignore their bad qualities… at least, people like you do so more often."

"You're spouting off mean things about me again, aren't you!?"

His smile widens. "No, no. That's just your imagination, Yui." He closes his eyes, looking 'oh so innocent' with that smile of his.

"You're lying, Naru…"

"I never lie." But his smirk proves otherwise.

But his words only serve as fuel to her fire which is embarrassment. Unable to take his teasing any more, Yui storms off the room shouting 'YOU'RE A JERK NARUTO!'. Chuckling at the mess that he has created, Naruto shakes his head as he stands up to finally leave the room.

"You really shouldn't tease Yui too much, Naruto."

But a voice stops him from actually exiting his classroom.

His smile remains, but it loses the intensity that it had when teasing Yui. Naruto comes face to face with yet another girl, but this time, she holds an even more solid and prominent position in the school's hierarchy. Her green eyes are looking at him with the feeling as if she's scolding him, her appropriately glossed lips are formed into a small disappointed scowl to show her disapproval of what he's just done to the girl who ran out shouting names at him.

"I just can't help it, Miura-san. It's refreshing to see her like that."

This is Miura Yumiko. Normally, someone with the kind of reputation that she has would be the last person to talk to him. However, here she is having a conversation, yet with the intention of scolding, with him as if it's the most natural thing in the world. Of course, it's not like she talks to him all the time, in fact, this moment is so rare. The only occasions when she'd actually talk to him is when she really needs to ask a question about certain topics like, the English subject, calculating the trajectory of moving objects and the amount of force required in order to make said object move in the first place or for other things like… scolding him for teasing Yui like what she's doing now.

A pair of emerald green eyes rolls as if to mock the reason behind what he did. "Refreshing? It's believable the first two times, but it's not a viable reason anymore."

Brave, strong willed and aggressive. Three qualities of Miura Yumiko that makes her stand out amongst the rest of her peers and what earns her the moniker of Soubu's Queen Bee.

Sighing, Yumiko shakes her head and then gives the taller blonde a final look. "Just don't go overboard with it, Yui's actually a sensitive girl, you know?"

Smiling good naturedly, Naruto understands why she's so concerned over Yui. They're friends, after all. "I don't plan on doing so, Miura-san, so you can rest easy."

After letting her look of uncertainty linger at him for a few seconds longer, the girl shrugs, leaving the room before him, but not before saying. "You're a good guy, Naruto."

Girls. It'd take longer than eight four years for him to know what's on their mind, much less understand them.

* * *

 **Next Day**

* * *

"Certainly, your writing, grammar and vocabulary have improved by a lot over the past year… and that's amazing. I'm not even kidding, for someone who's home taught, it's very impressive."

Ignoring Shizuka's praises about his improvements, Naruto opts to credit someone else for his achievements. "I have a very excellent mentor."

Raising an eyebrow, Shizuka notes the choice of words that he used. "Excellent, eh? I'd like to meet this mentor of yours, he's your guardian too, I take it?"

The blonde nods firmly, no hesitation at all, almost as if he's proud to reveal the information to her. "True. He's my mentor, guardian and father figure in all."

Realizing the pit that she's about to step on if this topic continues further, Shizuka redirects their conversation elsewhere. "There are mistakes, but in your case, the improvements in your overall output have completely outweighed them." the lab coat wearing teacher hums with a hint of approval in her tone. "You might even score more than our previous top scorers, and you're not even a native speaker."

"I have a way with language."

"Oho? Cocky are we?"

"No, not at all."

Shizuka raises an eyebrow. While she's used to how… stoic and monotone and sometimes downright sarcastic her foreign student could be at times, she fails to detect the obvious sarcasm that he would often hint out when he's joking.

Realizing that his teacher is pondering on the lack of humor in his tone, he elaborates. "I'm a westerner who has lived the first nine years of his life in the Middle East, got taken in by a Japanese man and spends most of his days talking to people of Slavic and Eastern European origin." He shrugs. "Safe to say I'm a natural when it comes to learning languages."

"I see…" no she doesn't.

"No you don't." the blonde reveals her thoughts, flatly.

"A-Anyway, am I safe to assume that due to these… differences in culture… you've been having difficulty in fitting in with the rest of your peers?" recomposing herself, Shizuka lays out yet another question for him to answer.

He answers immediately. "Not quite." He says. "I'm okay with most of them, but there are just times when I feel like they're avoiding me. Whether this is about my race or personality, I can't really tell." Well, he could tell, but he doesn't feel like telling Shizuka. "But you don't have to worry about that, it's all fine, sensei."

"You see, that's the thing." Naruto sees his homeroom teacher sighing whilst shaking her head, probably due to the answer he's given her. "Teenagers like you Naruto, regardless of their origins, will always say that it's fine while in reality it's not." She hums, rethinking her words. "Okay, maybe this does not apply to teenagers only, but people are prone to hide what they actually feel by saying things like 'I'm fine' or 'it's alright' and things like that."

"But… it is alright, sensei… I do not see the point of hiding something that I do not have or feel in the first place…"

But you do have something that you're hiding, right?" again, Naruto is reminded just how persistent women can be. "It doesn't have to be the minimal social contact that you have with your peers, but it's something else, right?"

Blinking several times, something clicks inside of Naruto's head. Hiratsuka Shizuka… you are one crafty woman, smart, but not smart enough.

It's his turn to sigh. "Sensei… if this is you trying to figure out more about my past, then I'm afra-"

"No, no, this isn't about that at all." She interrupts him before he can finish his sentence. "You know, throughout this whole on year, you remain a mystery to me. To all of us. Your past be damned, even your personality and behavior requires my earnest attention to figure out and that's actually something." She snorts humorlessly. "What I'm trying to say is, there's no need to be reserved. As your homeroom teacher and student counselor, you can tell me what is that's been hindering you from trying to go the extra mile to interact with your peers."

Hm… perhaps there are some truths in her words. Though her intention in trying to get more of his past out of him by leading him into an obvious has failed, the last part of her statement is true. He feels something hindering himself from trying to interact with his classmates. He figured that keeping quiet and only talk when you're talked to would be the best course of action into getting associates, but as it turns out, it hasn't done him any good. Yet, he has not done anything about it. The reason?

"Well…" the blonde speaks out, uncertainty filling his tone, something that Shizuka is not used to hear coming from him. "Maybe there is something hindering me…"

"Then tell me, I'd be more than happy to help." Shizuka says with a smile.

"Personally, I think that it is my own incapability to approach others… I am not very good in socializing, especially when it comes to people my own age. And being a foreigner in a foreigner lowers my self-esteem further." Perhaps this is what he's supposed to be doing. Instead of facing it on his own, maybe the help of another party might give him the solution he needs.

"So you are worried about how you will be judged and seen by others?"

He shakes his head. "Not in the sense that you might be thinking. I just don't want people to have a very high expectation from me."

Shizuka hums, presumably taking in his answer. After what feels like twenty seconds, she sighs, looking down, muttering, "If only he'd be more honest like you…" Naruto is sure that he's not supposed to hear what she's just said, so he ignores the comment. The lab coat wearing teacher then returns her attention to him. "I get what you're feeling. But I can't give you any solid solution right now, in fact, I don't think I can ever."

Naruto doesn't know why, but he expects her to say that.

"What I can do, however, is urge you to try and keep on socializing with your friends. Don't think of whatever it is that they might feel towards you, think of you or anything like that. Just try to maintain conversation and make yourself readable for them." she pauses, taking a moment to let the words sink in. "You see, the problem that most people have when talking to a foreigner is that – in the case of us Japanese – is that we're afraid that we might give them the wrong impression of how Japanese people are as a whole, which is why most of us choose not to talk to people and keep our comments to ourselves. I believe that this is the case with people of other countries when they're talking to someone from a different country."

He finds her answer acceptable, logical and makes sense.

"In your case, Naruto, you are probably expecting people to approach you and tell you how they feel about you as person, but know that most people won't do that. Then if that is the case, it's up to you to approach them and tell them how you feel about them. If you take the initiative to engage first, then they'll tolerate your presence even more. Opinions and expectations be damned. If you're not you when you're talking to them, then how can you expect them to be them in the first place?"

' _If you're not you when you're talking to them, then how can you expect **them** to be **them**?'_

Looks like she's a teacher after all.

"I see." Naruto smiles. But unlike his usual ones that are only there for the sake of looking happy, this time, it's genuine. "Thank you, Hiratsuka-sensei."

"Anytime… speaking of which, Naruto, you're not in any club, are you?"

Raising an eyebrow at the sudden shift of topic, he answers her, "No, I'm not in any club."

Shizuka asks again. "Then do you ever consider yourself joining a club?"

Taking a moment to think about it, he hums, "There was this one time I consider on joining the track and fields club… but I'm no longer considering it."

Smiling, Shizuka dumps the ashes of her cigar into the cigar tray on the coffee table in front of her. "Perfect. Come see me after school, we're getting you a club for you to join!"

"What?"

* * *

"Now let me do all the talking first, this person is a little bit hard to convince."

"Sensei, where are we-"

"Now, now, we're almost there."

In fact, they are there already.

It's after school now, he's supposed to be on the street making his walk home, but right now, he's tasked with following Shizuka to this mysterious club. Why is she doing this in the first place? What makes this necessary? And why is he following her in the first place when he could have just rejected her? He'll have to satisfy his unanswered questions later, because Shizuka has entered the fray by sliding open the door of the club that he's supposed to visit.

Inside the club, he's greeted with an unfurnished classroom which is just as big as the rest of the classrooms in this school. At least that's what he thought at first. Upon further inspection, the chairs and tables are actually stacked on the back of the room allowing so much free space left for people to use. But he's not convinced just yet, because this place looks nothing like a clubroom. It lacks the necessary equipment, furnishing and accessories to warrant his identity as a club room.

The literature club has countless books and shelves, the soccer club has their field, the music club uses the music room and their instruments but this room? Not a single thing.

But all of that doesn't explain the presence of the black haired, pale skinned and blue eyed beauty sitting on a chair with a table, who is reading a book while sipping on a mug of tea either.

So… what is happening right now?

His expression is as blank as the moon; nothing really shows aside from the obvious confusion he's currently feeling. The mysterious girl glances over to both him and Shizuka, her gaze fixed on the lab coat wearing teacher.

"Hiratsuka-sensei… how many times should I remind you to knock the door before entering?" her voice is exactly as he'd thought it might sound like. Firm, yet smooth as if he's skating on silk. But she's using her voice as a medium to scold the teacher, adding in a pinch of deliberateness and resolution into it.

Shizuka waves her hand, indicating her lack of sincerity on apologizing. "Maa, maa, it's a habit of mine, don't mind it too much."

Sighing, the blue eyed girl's gaze switches over to him, maintaining it in a rather firm lock. "So, are we having guests?"

"Yes, yes, he's your guest today." Shizuka motions for Naruto to enter. "Don't just stand in the hallway Naruto, come in already."

Stepping into the room, the light but relaxing scent of red tea overwhelms his senses. While Naruto is getting used to the room, the girl has prepared a chair and a warm cup of tea for him. "Please, sit down."

Naruto nods before taking the spot that she has prepared for him. He sees her sitting down on her chair and from there, the conversation resumes. "So, may I ask what's his purpose here, sensei?"

Chuckling lightly, Shizuka, who's opted to lean on the wall near the door for her place, answers the girl. "As blunt as ever, eh, Yukinoshita? The both of you will get along together well…" she sighs. Rudely, she points at the blonde, who's sipping the tea that has been prepared for him, before saying. "Simply said, he'll be joining this club from now on."

Yeah, he expects this. Sighing into his cup, he places it back on the table. "Sensei, does it not occur to you that I might not have any time to spare for something as time-consuming as a club?"

"Oh? Are you saying that you have things to do after school, Naruto?" Shizuka's tone is challenging him for a battle of wits. "If you happen to have a part time job, then why wasn't I made aware? You do know that having a part time job without confirming about it to your homeroom teacher is punishable by the school's rule, right?"

He crosses his arm, resting his chin on his palm. "You're mistaken. I never said anything about having a part time job, all I'm saying is that I have things better to do than wasting my time in a… eh… room that may or may not be a club room in the first place."

"Excuse me."

Both Naruto and Shizuka looks at Yukinoshita, who has a pretty offended look on her face, and she is directing all of that irritation at the blonde in the room. "Not only this is the first time I have met you, but you also insulted my club room too? How despicable and rude of you." Her glare doubles in intensity.

The muscle on Naruto's neck twitches. He is thiiiiiis close from retorting, but he refrains himself. First impressions are important, especially with girls… is what he overheard some of the boys in his class were saying. Sighing, the blonde looks over at Shizuka instead, paying the other girl attention no longer.

"Can we please get to the point of why I'm here, sensei?"

Clearing her throat, Shizuka steps forward, donning a confident and plotting smile on her beautiful face. "The reason why I've brought you here Naruto is because she-" Shizuka points a finger at Yukinoshita, who raises an eyebrow at the gesture. "-will be the one to help you with improving your social life in this high school environment."

"What?" the word is uttered by two people. Naruto and Yukinoshita.

"The both of you heard me correctly." Shizuka's smiling a million dollar worth of smile. "Naruto will join the service club and Yukinoshita will help him improve his social skills."

As soon as Shizuka finish speaking, both students raised their hands simultaneously. And Yukinoshita is the first one to speak. "Sensei, forgive me, but I don't think I will be able to confine myself in a room alone with this person. I do not know him and everything about him seems dangerous."

After hearing her reason, Naruto actually considers on lowering his hand and let this whole thing roll into an even uglier mess than what it already is now. But he needs to prove that he's at least making an effort to defend himself. First impressions are important, after all. "Sensei, I don't think that this person will be able to help me in the slightest." He says flatly. "Her entire presence reeks that of a loner."

How's that for a first impression?

Shizuka winces internally, knowing the full weight behind Naruto's words. Yukinoshita, on the other hand, flinches as if she's just taken a shot from a .22 LR bullet. "O-Oh, so are you saying that you are far more capable in socializing with others than me?"

The blonde shrugs. "I guess. I'm not the one who's actually confining herself inside a room somewhere in the school now am I?"

"A-Alright you two, break it up, break it up!" Shizuka has to interfere at this point. Naruto has done too much damage to Yukinoshita that the girl's face is all red, the normally calm and unshaken expression is currently absent from her person. "Ahem, you see, there is a purpose for this."

The two students direct a questioning look at the teacher of their own.

"Yukinoshita, I've given you a fellow club member to help out with club activities. That way, you'll be able to do the tasks that require strenuous efforts." The girl, despite knowing just how logical her teacher's reasoning is, cannot seem to back down just yet. "And Naruto, Yukinoshita is actually one of the most well-known individual in the school. She should be able to help you just fine."

Crossing her arms, Yukinoshita opens her mouth to speak. "Regardless of what you have just said, sensei, I still think that that man cannot be trusted."

Blinking several times, Naruto isn't sure of what he's supposed to feel. Is he supposed to feel offended, hurt or something? Regardless of what it is, one thing is clear: this Yukinoshita chick is going to be a pain in the ass. Both figuratively and literally.

"As for that, you do not have to worry, Yukinoshita." Shizuka reassures the black haired beauty with a smile. "Naruto is one of the most reserved, gentle and well-mannered people I know. He won't do anything to you."

"But his comment earlier says otherwise…"

"That's only because you started it, Yukinoshita," Shizuka crosses her arms, her tone beginning to take a stern turn, "he's only defending himself."

A sense of pleasure washes over Naruto. So this is what it feels like to have someone defending you in an argument? Feels good, better than what he expects. Most of the arguments he'd been in always end up in him diving first into gunfights, turning live people to dead people and him wiping out an entire platoon of soldiers. So, it feels nice to be the one being defended once in a while. His master, despite being there with him while the entire thing took place, never really did anything to defend him. Something about tough love or whatever.

Sighing, Yukinoshita sees that there is no more room to argue. "Very well, I will accept him as a member of this club… and the request regarding him."

Satisfied with Yukinoshita's answer, Shizuka nods her head, the smile on her face brimming with cheer. "Good! Then, I will take my leave now." She turns her attention to the blonde. "Naruto, from now on, you're to attend club per Yukinoshita's order. She is your club leader now so listen to her, okay?"

"…yes ma'am."

"Good." Nodding one last time, the teacher finally exits the scene, closing behind the sliding door.

Immediately, awkwardness settles into the room as if it's been hanging out waiting for the whole situation to become quiet. Naruto, who is now seated on his chair, reaches for his bag, before reaching inside as if he's trying to search for something. His action is observed silently by the club president herself who is seated on the other end of the table, she's taking discreet glances at him, using her book as cover. She watches him take out a rectangular object which she immediately recognizes as a book. She catches a glimpse of the title.

Green on Blue: A Novel. Written by Elliot Ackerman.

That is the title of the book he's currently reading.

She has not heard much less read about that book. And it seems to be written in English too. Being a book connoisseur, especially when it comes to foreign books, she cannot deny the feeling of interest and curiosity that she has towards the book.

"Is there anything that I can help you with, Yukinoshita-san?"

The club president of this yet-to-be-revealed club snaps off her trance. Redness dusts her cheeks, before eventually subsiding. Coughing to her fist as a cover for her blunder, she swiftly answers the question that has been asked of her. "It's nothing. But it seems that we have skipped out introductions." Nodding her head slightly, she begins introducing herself. "I am Yukinoshita Yukino from 2-J. I will be your club president from now on." As usual, there is a hint of sass in her tone. She needs to make her position in the club clear, after all.

The blonde is polite enough to discard his book for a second, giving her a nod in return. "I'm Naruto, class 2-F, no last name. My earlier display of rudeness aside, Yukinoshita-san, I hope that we will be able to get along well. Hopefully."

Yukino snorts, detecting the subtle hint of sarcasm in his tone. "To hope is to risk despair, haven't you heard of that saying before, Naruto-kun?"

"And what is it are you trying to say?" the blonde flatly asks.

"It means that it's better not to hope in the first place, instead, say it as 'please take care of me' or something similar along those lines."

The blonde looks up, making a thinking posture. Then, he shakes his head. "Nah, I'd rather risk despair than having you take care of me." he says nonchalantly in his stoic but serious tone. "However, it seems that there's no digging me up from that hole, huh, considering that I am now a member of this club." He sighs remorsefully. Or at least how remorse sounds like when it's Naruto who's projecting it.

Yukino feels something that she rarely feels when talking or even socializing with people. Irritation. Not many people irritate her nowadays, they're usually her sister, Shizuka when she is being unreasonable and maybe her mother, but that last one is a topic that she is not willing to discuss anytime soon. Not noticing the twitch that her left eyebrow is making, Yukinoshita opens her mouth to speak.

"Indeed, how unfortunate, the same goes for me." it's the only retort that she can say without making her irritation obvious. And she notices that he's back on reading his book that is still intriguing her. "By the way Naruto-kun, are there any questions that you would like to ask from me?"

He answers immediately, but this time, he is not taking his eyes off his book. "Yes. What kind of club is this anyway?"

Yukinoshita raises an eyebrow. "Hm. Then let's play a small game, shall we? A game in which you guess what club is this."

But she receives no answer from him.

Three seconds passed.

Naruto then looks at her, blinking, "Oh sorry, was that not rhetorical?"

Another twitch. _'This man…'_ now, Yukino is sure that her irritation is showing, though not that obvious. "That was _not_ rhetorical, Naruto-kun. I was being serious."

"…I see." The blonde puts aside his book, taking a moment to think. "Is this not the counseling club?"

Yukinoshita is not expecting that kind of answer from him. "What makes you think that this is a counseling club? In fact, what makes you think that there is such thing called a counseling club in the first place?"

The blonde shrugs, an action that Yukino is slowly getting used to see from him. "Not a really solid reason but considering that Hiratsuka-sensei is a counselor herself and she's brought me here with the intention of improving my social skills by introducing me to you, I expect you to be some sort of assistant counselor? I do not know if that make sense. And as for the second question… I do not know, I only assume that there is one in the first place."

"Well, based on the answer that you have given me, you are not so far off the mark." A small smirk graces her lips. "But tell me first, Naruto-kun, when was the last time you have a real conversation with a girl?"

"Three hours ago during third period." His answer is as instant as a cupped ramen. "I'm assuming that you meant girls that are around my age range? Not adult females that are way past their appropriate courtship age?"

Somewhere in the school, Shizuka sneezes.

"…indeed." Funny, Shizuka comes to her mind when he says that last part. "Seeing that you have managed to make conversations with a girl, then this will make my job easier. You see, Naruto-kun, there are two types of people in this world. Those who help and those who don't. We, as a member of this club, are those who help. Whether our deeds are recognized or not, no matter how trivial or big the task is, it is our job as a volunteer to help those who have sought us out."

Yukino tilts her head slightly, the small smile present on her face.

"I welcome you to the Service Club, and thank you for joining, Naruto-kun. And forgive me for calling you with such honorific, for you have no last name."

Blinking several times, Naruto nods. "It's fine." He pauses. "And… you're welcome, I guess." The last part of his sentence is not a question.

"Then, let us begin addressing the topic at hand, shall we?" Yukino says in a tone that requires Naruto's attention. And she receives it. "First, I have gotten the feeling that you are not as… socially hopeless as I thought you might be, care to explain that to me?"

"If you mean that I'm able to have a conversation with you, then, you're completely ignoring the other side of the spectrum." Naruto sighs, his voice sounds tired for once. "I have no problem when it comes to talking itself, but only if others are the ones who initiate the conversation first. Hiratsuka-sensei told me the importance of taking the initiative when it comes to socializing, she particularly mentioned how much of an impact I'll leave if I am to engage first."

Humming, a calculating look descends on Yukino's face. "Hmm… I suppose that is true. So, the problem here is indeed more complicated than what it is." She sighs. "I'll take this as a sign for me to put in more effort than usual." The snob is obvious in her tone here, almost as if she wants him to know that she'll put in more effort in doing his request.

So you haven't been using all your efforts until now? …is the thought that crosses Naruto's head. He's beginning to understand this Yukinoshita Yukino chick and his earlier thought of her being a pain in the ass is right. Her attitude… let's just say that he's seen better from war orphans in Syria.

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto says nothing, letting his club president think on the matter by herself.

"If you're capable of showing social skills… have no problem talking to people personally… and speaks with a certain degree of intelligence… then that only means one thing: your looks." Yukino finally says, revealing the possible cause of his dilemma. "Being a foreigner in Japan is a double edged sword, Naruto-kun, and it is the most likely reason why it is hard for you to approach people."

Finally they are getting somewhere. "You're right, Yukino-san." He confirms her conclusion. "I noticed it, of course, but I have to confess, my own self-consciousness is to blame as well." Upon noticing her inquiring look, he elaborates. "I am… afrai-" he stops, rethinking his word of choice, "-no, not afraid, but concerned of what others might think of me. I don't want them to expect so much from me. Perhaps at this point, it has become a form of insecurity for me. I think that it is what hindering me to be able to socialize properly with others."

"I see… there are truths in your explanation." The girl smiles. "I'm glad that you are able to come up with this answer yourself, Naruto-kun, but getting a question answered doesn't necessarily mean that the problem is solved." She pauses. "You see, I have always been cute-"

Okay that confirms it. This girl has an ego as big as Jupiter.

"-and most of the boys who came near me came to like me." she says again, with the same self-appreciating tone that she's using. "However, when I was in elementary school, my indoor shoes were hidden sixty times. Fifty of those times were done by the same girls." She makes a wistful and borderline melancholic expression. "As a result, I have to bring home my indoor shoes and recorder with me every time I go home." she finishes the story with a sigh that hints out disappointment, whether it is to herself or to the people that had done those things to her, Naruto will never know.

The small gap of silence in the story telling is taken by Naruto as his cue to sympathize with her. "That's… harsh for an elementary school kid." He can't really sympathize with her.

Nodding, Yukino continues. "Sadly, there's nothing I can do about that. My existence and presence to them is overwhelming, the things I did back then outshines the cumulative efforts of all of them combined. And the same reason can be used for your situation." She says. "The fact that you are a foreigner that speaks proper Japanese, and I'm assuming that you also do well than your Japanese classmates in your academics, those are pretty much the reasons why they are expecting so much from you. People judge us based on the results we produce and ultimately, this leads to them expecting more of those results from us. And that is one of the many flaws of humanity right there."

After hearing that last part of her statement, Naruto can finally agree with what she's saying. That's not to say that he didn't previously… however, it has become clear. He shouldn't worry about what others might think of him. Despite how cliché, simple and obvious the answer is; it is the best answer that anyone could have given him.

"You are the first client that has approached me with this type of counseling request, Naruto-kun. My advice may not be the best or someone else may have given the same advice prior to me, but sometimes not worrying about what others think about you can be the best thing you'll ever do in your life."

A smile forms on his face. "Ignorance is bliss, eh?"

"In this case, it's only because you choose to ignore them." Yukinoshita clarifies in a knowing register.

Nodding his head, Naruto then says, "Thank you for the advice, Yukino-san. Hiratsuka-sensei told me the same thing earlier and hearing you suggesting the same thing means that it is probably the best thing to do."

"You are very much welcomed, Naruto-kun." Yukino returns his thanks. "This world is filled with jealous people, ignorant people or just generally unreasonable people. There are those who are weak and those who are strong." She pauses, but her attention is returned to the book that she's reading before. "Regardless of how much suffering the weak has gone through, the strong will suffer double that amount."

This entire conversation has turned one sided and dark at the same time. Naruto muses. This is something that he is not used to hear coming from a person his age. Yukino casts a glance at his direction, prompting him to stare back at her.

"Isn't that wrong, Naruto-kun?" her question is rhetorical. "That is why, I'm going to change that."

Yukino hears chuckling coming from the blonde, causing her to direct her undivided attention at him. Naruto looks at her, this time with the softest smile she has ever seen on a boy.

"What do you mean by that? A world where none suffer or a world where all suffering is equal?" He continues. "Regardless of which one is it, I wish the best for you and your ambition because you will be trying to do what most seasoned politicians, hardened war veterans and experienced rulers would not be able to do."

Yukino can only detect sincerity in his words, almost as if he has said those words so many times in his life. She does not know how to respond to his statement. "You're welcome." Aside from that, of course.

"I think that I will enjoy my time in this club, Yukino-san." Naruto suddenly says, grabbing her attention once more. "I've just spent forty minutes here yet I'm already comfortable, and that is not something that I usually experience. Once again, may we get along well, Yukino-san."

The Yukinoshita can only nod.

* * *

 **Next day**

* * *

"It may seem out of nowhere but… could you please share a little bit more about yourself, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde is not surprised to hear the words come out from her mouth.

It has only been a day after their meeting, but he's come to know one thing. Despite how elegant, reserved and quiet Yukinoshita Yukino is, she is still a human being capable of getting her interest or curiosity piqued. Currently, the two of them are alone inside their club room, a room that Naruto has gotten used to, especially with how… minimal it is in terms of aesthetics.

Yukino is polite enough to serve him a cup of tea which she prepared earlier before his arrival and currently, the cup is half full. Naruto, who is in the middle of reading the same book that he has the other day, puts it aside to address her question.

"I'll tell you what I told Hiratsuka-sensei: I cannot answer all of your questions, so do not blame me if you are dissatisfied with what you are about to hear." He says in a soft but mindful tone.

"Hmm… you cannot or you won't?" It seems that he needs to remind himself at just how sharp this girl could be. "Regardless, I shall respect your privacy."

"Understood. So, what would you like to know, Yukino-san?"

She takes a brief second to think. "Where are you from?" she asks.

A simple start only means that things will get more complicated later, but Naruto answers her regardless, using the cover story that he has fabricated and used throughout the entire year of his stay in Japan. "I was born in the United States, but I spent most of my early childhood in the Middle East." The answer he's given should be enough, but adding a little bit more will not hurt, besides, this is also a good chance for him to improve his social skills by letting her know just a little bit more about himself. "Due to my guardian's profession, I've spent a lot of time in some Eastern European countries, most of them being Slavic countries."

"Interesting." Yukino comments, sounding sincere. "So, is it safe for me to assume that you are familiar with the languages of the countries you've been into?"

Naruto nods. "Yes." This time, he will need to be more careful in speaking to her. "Having grown up in the Middle East, my Arabic is good. I also speak other Arabic influenced languages like Pashto, Farsi and some more. The same goes for Slavic languages… but I am most confident in my Russian." He pauses. "As for my Japanese… my guardian is a Japanese person so, it's only natural that he'd teach me about his mother tongue."

"A polyglot, huh? I'm impressed."

Naruto chuckled. "I just know what I know, nothing more."

"And there're rumors that I recalled spreading a while back about you having military backgrounds, is that true?"

Without hesitation, Naruto answers her. "It's true." See, since that rumor is pretty much known by almost every student in this school, there's no point in hiding it anymore. Besides, it's not like it's that strange. People his age enlist in the military, some even chose to drop out of high school to join in the military, so using that as a cover story might be a pretty good idea for him to use later on if he has time to fabricate another story.

"Heeh…" the girl is silent for several seconds, but Naruto's sure that she is not done with questioning him. "That's all, I guess. Thank you for answering, Naruto-kun."

Oh, looks like he's wrong after all. Lowering his book, Naruto casts an inquiring look at the girl. "I take it that that was all a part of a plan to improve my social skills?" Naruto delivers the question to her.

"Oh? It seems that you are more perceptive than I thought." A smirk appears on Yukino's lips. "Yes, you're right, but I have to admit, I was also sating my curiosities while doing so."

"I see. Then, any comments?"

"Hm… let's see… you need to speak more casually."

Naruto snorts. "You are the last person I want to hear that from, Yukino-san."

"Ha ha ha. Very funny, Naruto-kun, but I can't blame you." she rests an elbow on the table, shifting her pose into that of a more relaxed one than before. "While I do prioritize politeness, curtsey and manners, some situation requires the right approach. You wouldn't come to a school dressed in a tuxedo, now would you?"

Well, he did wear his battledress attire... at least, a PMC's version of it the first time he got here. "No, no, I totally get what you're trying to say but…" he sighs. "It doesn't... how should I say this without offending you…?"

"Hm." She nudges an eyebrow at his hesitation. "Please speak your mind, I would like to know."

"Well…" he hesitates, but he finally finds the ability to speak. "You don't look like the type of person who would enjoy pointless talk, as in, casual talks with people. So… yeah."

"Funny, I kind of thought that you are too." Yukino says, flipping several strands of hair that was obscuring her vision. "But what we are doing could not be considered pointless in the slightest, I am helping you, after all and that doesn't sound pointless to me."

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

He'll have to come out and confess here.

Yukinoshita Yukino is probably one of the few people – next to his master and Yui – that he actually talks to. Aside from the obviously close relationship within him and his master, Yui and Yukino are two different girls who are around his age group. Not to mention, they are several worlds apart from his. They are ordinary girls living their respective ordinary lives and he was a child orphan inducted into a mercenary lifestyle and is mentored by one of the strongest and most dangerous person he ever knew.

Safe to say, living the kind of life he has, having a 'normal' conversation like the ones he have had with Yui and Yukinoshita is not something that he's used to do.

And, as if to mock him for bringing up Yui, the door slides open, revealing…

"Eh, Naruto?"

Yuigahama Yui, in all of her busty and carefree glory, enters the room. However, it seems that she has to cut the carefreeness short. The pink haired girl's eyes immediately land on the only male in the room, blinking several times, making sure that they are not deceiving her. She points a finger at the male she's currently staring at, her mouth opening slight in an 'O' shape.

The blonde haired boy gives her a small nod, acknowledging her presence. "Yui." His deep and confident voice says her name, snapping her out from her trance.

"W-What are you doing here?" Yui asks, closing the door behind her. "A-And… uh… you are Yukinoshita Yukino-san, right?" this time, she's directing this question to the black haired beauty who is currently in the middle of sipping her tea.

Yukino takes a moment to place her mug back on the table before addressing the question that has been asked to her. "Indeed and you are Yuigahama Yui-san from the same class as that man," she gestures to Naruto, who rolls his eyes, "right?"

Yui blinks, noting the kind of reaction that Naruto made when Yukino loosely gestures to him. "U-Uh yeah, that's right." She hesitates, her eyes brimming with contained curiosity. "Um… what is Naruto doing here?"

Yukino closes her eyes, commenting, "Well, Naruto-kun, are you going to answer that question, or should I do it for you?"

' _K-Kun… she's calling him with kun…'_ Yui feels something aching around her chest area, her stomach suddenly churning. What is this?

Naruto sends Yukino his best rendition of what an irritated look could ever be like. "I'll do it myself, thank you."

Yui blinks. Is that sarcasm she's hearing from him? She knows that the boy could be sarcastic, a tease and sly, but… she detects irritation from his tone too.

"Yui, I'm a member of this… club. This is the Service Club, I'm sure you're aware of that, right?" the blonde raises his eyebrow, holding to his book with one hand.

Yui takes a moment to completely register what he means. Blushing slightly, the girl with the bun on her head stammers out bashfully, "O-Of course I know! Hiratsuka-sensei herself told me to go here for my request after all! I'm not that dumb, Naruto, hmph!" she swivels on her heels, arms crossed, lips pouted and face slightly pink.

Rolling his eyes, a teasing smirk forms on the blonde's face. "Of course, Yui, I believe you."

"You, like, totally don't!"

* * *

"I… I… please give me a minute to recompose myself…"

It seems that Yui's serious when she said that she wants to get into baking. Currently, the three of them are inside the home economics room. The table is messy with kitchen utensils, dough, flour and butter filling the surface like an aftermath of a carpet bombing from an F-22. The trio are examining a tray with black burnt out cookies that are pretty much charcoal on top of it.

Each of them has varied expressions.

Yui is completely devastated. This is her fourth failure, not counting the attempts she had done prior at home the other day. The results might be even worse than her previous attempts.

Yukino's expression is a mixture between confusion, disappointment and morbid awe. She deserves to be awed. How can a person screw up this much? She was even there to guide Yui throughout the entire process, how can someone mess something as simple as cookie baking?

Naruto is… well, he could only careless. But, in all honesty, he'd rather eat the bitter, lactose free biscuits that have that same texture as a brick that he used to get when eating MREs. However, he bravely picks up one of the charcoal-like cookies, popping it into his mouth and munching into it with the same indifferent expression that is normally found on him.

"N-Naruto?" Yui gasps, surprised. She tasted one of her own cookies and nearly vomited them out. "You shouldn't eat… that…"

The blonde swallows the lump in his throat, effectively letting digestion take over.

"Are you a masochist, Naruto-kun?" Yukino wonders, slightly surprised but teasing at the same time.

"No I'm not." The blonde deadpans. Then, his expression twists into regret. "Just make sure that you don't hand these out to anyone else." He then bents his body forward slightly to pick up the tray of burnt cookies.

"What are you going to do with them?" Yui asks.

"Eat them." Naruto replies, as if it's the most normal thing to say. "Once you taste poison, you might as well finish the meal. If it comes to that, you would make as fine a dish as any." He places the cookies into one zip-lock bag that is laid out on the table. "I'll be taking these home. You can't waste food, after all, regardless of how… hazardous they are."

"M-Mou… you're so mean Naruto…"

Yukino watches the scene with a small smile. She shakes her head.

Naruto is a mystery. She has heard of them having a foreign transferee a year prior but never really bothered to look it up because he's in a different class than hers. However, the people around her – regardless whether they are classmates or teachers – are not so silent when it comes to the blonde. The girls in her class are gushing at how dashing and charming he is, the small population of boys in her class also talks about the blonde and even the teachers can be heard mentioning his name a few times whenever she needs to visit the faculty room.

She viewed the school's ranking, which is like a score board for the students to look at in order for them to know where the stand amongst their peers. She was surprised to see his name within the single digits. That is an impressive feat for a foreigner. While she knows that it's wrong to judge, it tends to be hard for foreign students to get used to Japanese lectures, especially when it comes to history, language and so on and so forth. Needless to say, he has garnered more than a little bit of her attention.

Just who are you, Naruto?

* * *

" _Is this… Naruto?"_

Eyes narrowed.

"Who is this?"

" _A friend."_

A pause. The blonde stops on the middle of his walk, the violet and orange sky above him basking the area with the late afternoon atmosphere. He holds the phone close to his ear, his brain already going through databases of voices of people that he had met before. This person matches none.

"Not good enough. Who are you?"

" _For now, you can call me Kage. And as for why I'm calling you… eh… let's just say that we need a favor."_

His grip on his phone tightens, but Naruto notes how easy the man's tone becomes. "If this is related to Leafcorp in anyway, then I'm sorry to tell you, I'm retired."

"… _no, no. This is not something like that, not for Leafcorp but something even more personal. Meet me at the coordinates that I will send you tomorrow at 1800 hours. Oh and try not to be late, I know you're your mentor's protégé but, man, even I'm not that lazy."_

Just like that, the line is cut.

"That was… interesting." Naruto says to himself. The person on the other end of the line does not sound as if he's interested in talking to him, he can basically taste the laziness from his end of the line.

Things are not looking good for him. Oh no. Naruto looks at his call history and the number of the caller from earlier. With several taps of his screen, he adds the number into his contact list, inputting the name 'Kage' into the list. This Kage person is definitely affiliated with Leafcorp, no doubt. Meeting him might not be the smartest thing to do, but this is something that he can't ignore.

Fist clenched around his phone, Naruto's gaze slips off to the distance. He sighs, pocketing his phone into the blazer he's wearing.

This is not looking pretty.

"Looks like you're right master…" Naruto sighs. "It won't be that easy…"

* * *

 **Okay, so, I've received a lot of suggestions saying that I should continue this story. But I'll warn you guys, I may just disappoint you. If you guys weren't disappointed enough with my other NarutoXOregairu fanfic, then you may just find this one disappointing.**

 **Characterization will be different, both for Naruto-verse and Oregiru-verse.**

 **I may neglect/change/exclude certain events in the Oregairu-verse and replace them with my own.**

 **Again, this story features a non-chakra Naruto, which means that it will feature Naruto-verse characters in it who are also going to be chakra-less.**

 **And there's really no telling when my interest in this story will drop.**

 **So, for now, I will still mark this story as completed. But if response is positive, support is plenty and demand is more, I'll make this into a full story. If I decided to do so, then Chapters 1 and 2 (this) will be edited to suit the story. With that said, to those of you who wants to see this idea become a full story, please review!**


	3. Parabellum

**Congratulations to supporters, because this is officially a story.**

* * *

"Madam, your car is here."

"Thank you, Aoba."

Yukinoshita Yukine. An influential politician, a prominent figure of authority, a stern wife and a dangerous foe to her rivals.

Born into a family where gold runs faster than water, she is raised in money. Though wealth and money may be her most notorious possessions, they come only next to her own strict and relentless personality. When she fights with her opponents above the table, she does so without mercy. She will not hesitate to expose her opponent's smallest flaw, ripping it wide open, before putting in more force into her onslaught.

Men, women; regardless of their positions in the world of politics, have fallen victim to her ruthless attacks. For this reason, she is hated, respected and feared in both the hearts and minds of people. They call her Chiba's Doberman because, without the slightest hint of doubt, her bite is way worse than her bark.

Still, she is a woman and a woman knows **when** and **how** to be one.

The media, a place where she often finds herself swimming around in, is one of her most favorite medium to manipulate. The average Japanese citizen spends more than half of their life dependent on technology, and the central hub where thousands, hundreds of thousands of people swarm into, is none other than the media. Live television, radio broadcasts, internet news, even the good old fashioned paper… if you hold onto these, you've successfully ruled the city.

This is also what makes Yukinoshita Yukine more terrifying in the eyes of her foes.

If she feels like it, she won't hesitate to use every single one of her assets to put them down.

Stepping into the sleek black, lightly armored limousine with the help of her chauffer, Yukine's driver – a middle aged man who has been driving her ever since she's a young teenager – tips his hat to offer his mistress a silent greeting. Naturally, his greeting goes un-responded, but not ignored. Yukine values loyalty and honor. Break those two then you are in a world of pain that no super computers on earth could even measure.

Her cold blue eyes are reflected upon the surface of her chauffer's shades. Aoba has been her assistant for more than six years. She has earned her trust and that is no exaggeration. Yukine may value loyalty and honor, but trust is a whole different thing.

"Madam, we will proceed immediately to the next meeting with the Diet members. After that, you will be doing your speech in front of a live broadcast in the prefectural government building." Her assistant reads off her schedule from the clipboard that she always has with her. "You have no scheduled events until evening, but it's advisable to prepare for an emergency meeting with the board members."

Lifting her head slightly, she opens her mouth to reply, "What of my husband, what will he be doing until evening?" her voice is as cold as her demeanor, but very composed, as to be expected from a woman of her caliber.

"Danna-sama is currently on a meeting the CEO of a foreign shipping company." Her assistant's reply does not miss a single beat. "He will be occupied until night."

The both of them being working individuals who are keen on expanding their business, she understands that her husband is as busy as her, if not more. Her husband is one of Chiba's prefectural diet members and he is also the CEO of their company. That raises the question of what her position in her family' business is. She considers herself to be her husband's aide, she is his wife after all, and a proper wife must always aid and be next to her husband in all circumstances. Yukinoshita Yukine attends the meetings that her husband could not. She makes the decisions that her husband could not. She says the words that her husband could not.

She does what her husband could never do.

Sometimes, some things require the touch of a woman in order for it to work and that is her job.

To make those things work.

Yukine knows her image. She knows how her rivals and enemies portray her; as a cold hearted, micromanaging bitch. She could only care less of what they think of her. If they see her as a cold hearted woman, then so be it. Sometimes, you need to be cold to solidify your ambitions.

"And also, Madam," Yukine turns her head slightly over to the direction of her secretary, "Haruno-ojousama will arrive at the airport at approximately four pm later. She asked for you to be there when they pick her up."

Raising an eyebrow, surprise colors Yukine's eyes. "Haruno did? Whatever for?"

In her stoic and professional demeanor, the secretary shakes her head, but she also manages to come off as sincere despite the lack of any on her visible expression. "Unknown, Madam. She simply requested for you to come when we pick her up. If you are worried about your schedule, not to worry, I have made it clear to make your schedule clear around that time."

Nodding her head, Yukine understands. "Alright. I will come."

"Understood, Madam."

Shifting her head to the original direction she's staring at, the faithful wife dozes off, one of the rare things that anyone have seen her do. She is constantly busy with a lot of things going on in her head. At moments like these, only now she can find some time to rest. She tries not to think of anything, but if there is anything that comes to mind, it's her youngest daughter. Yukino.

Yukino is a very difficult child. Even more difficult than Haruno. She knows that her relationship with her youngest daughter may not be the best relationship that a parent and child could have, but she truly loves her youngest daughter with all her heart. She, just like any mothers out there, simply wants the best for Yukino. When Yukino said that she wants to live apart from the family's main home, she felt a little bit upset, but she understands her daughter.

But she also knows that she cannot let this go on forever. She will make her daughter see the fault of her ways. The things she chooses to ignore.

Both as a mother and a woman.

* * *

"Ne, ne, but isn't it, like, totally annoying?"

"Yeah, yeah! He's, like, persistent to boot too… oh hey, Naruto-kun! Where are you going?"

Managing a small smile, he gives the girls a small wave. "I'm going to eat lunch." He lifts the plastic bag containing bread and chocolate milk that he bought from the school's canteen. "You two eating lunch too? See you later, then." He pauses. "And stay safe."

Leaving behind two swooning girls, Naruto turns left into a hallway. Looks like telling them to 'stay safe' is the right decision after all. They seem to like it.

He learned that using the right and appropriate words when talking to people might just be the key in having better conversations with other people. For example, girls like it when you show concern, but not too much, to them. He searched through several sources; overhearing his classmates' conversations, online sources (these are not reliable from what he's heard), and Shizuka. He's concluded that by showing concern, a way of trying to relate to people, he's managed to up his presence by a lot.

So, people like it when he tries to relate to them.

Smiling to himself, he enters to room with the uncharacteristic yet refreshing smile plastered on his face. It's nothing big, but nothing small either. It suits him.

And of course, it's caught the attention of one Yukinoshita Yukino.

"Naruto-kun?"

Pulling out his chair, sitting on it, he then turns to the black haired girl to address her call. "Yes, Yukino-san?"

Blinking, Yukino lets his words repeat inside her head. Yukino-san? He's calling her by her first name? Feeling that her cheeks are starting to heat up, she vehemently shakes her head to get rid of the sensation, something rather odd being seen from her.

"I-It's nothing." Stuttering? Why is she stuttering? Recomposing herself, she maintains her usual façade. "It seems that you are in… a slightly chipper mood. Might I ask why?"

She swears that his smile expands by half an inch. "I think that I've gotten the hang of socializing with people."

Yukino does not know why, but seeing him smile, it makes her smile a little bit too. Just a little bit though.

"Oh, it seems that we have made progress far faster than I had initially predicted." Her tone is light, playful, even if she is immersed in her book. "Are you that eager to leave this club, Naruto-kun?"

He notes the playful teasing in her voice, but still, he cannot help to ask, "…does that means we're not going to talk again if I leave this club?"

"Huh?"

Yukino realizes that she's uttered the word outright. Mentally scolding herself, she takes her eyes off her books, expression troubled. "N-No, what I was trying to say is that the progress you've made on your own is fast, and I haven't even helped you with anything major."

"Oh." The blonde hums, his blue eyes expressing how thoughtful he is. "But we can still talk like this even if I were to leave, right?"

"Yes, of course." Yukino answers in almost an instant. "I do not see anything wrong with that."

The first thing she notices about Naruto is that there are slight… changes about him. His register is no longer as formal as it was before and she has to say, it suits someone like him. He lacks the reserved tone that he has with him the other day, but when he speaks, he still sounds strangely stoic and flat. He could still use some more work on trying to convey emotion, but the smiling, smirk and occasional blinking he does do wonders.

"But do try to be mindful of your surroundings, Naruto-kun. People might take it the wrong way if you're seen talking to me outside of club activities."

"Hm?" the blonde lets out a confused hum. "Why is that?"

Taking her eyes off her book, Yukino begins elaborating. "People tend to misunderstand each other. I've said it to you before yesterday but that misunderstanding can turn into something sinister when it is fueled with inferiority, leading into jealousy." She says informatively.

"Are you saying that…" Naruto's face contorts to confusion laced with cluelessness. "People will get jealous if they see me talking to you?"

Nodding, Yukino then says. "It also works vice versa." Yes, she is sure of that. Even, no, _especially_ in her classroom, where the majority of the students are females, the topic of conversation amongst them will somehow have the blonde in it.

"I…" the blonde struggles to think, his eyes flickering back and forth from the ceiling and floor, before it finally settles to his shoes, "…don't understand."

Yukino does not say anything about that. She is perfectly aware of why the blonde is talked about so very much within the school. It's not every year that Soubu receives a foreign student and even if they are to receive one, she doubts that the student will understand Japanese as well as Naruto does. And there is also that rumor about him arriving with bloodied bandages on his person during the first time he got here, also the fact that he does well in his academics and him having a military background.

Speaking of military backgrounds, Yukino did a little bit of research about it to sate her curiosities.

Naruto has said to her that he was born in the United States, but he spent most of his early childhood years in the Middle East. Though she only did so much research about it, the United States does not allow people to enlist within the military if they are younger than 17 years of age, so it would be unlikely for Naruto be affiliated with the U.S armed forces. She researched about military forces in the Middle East and they also, more or less, have the same age requirement. It doesn't add up, but she doesn't feel like Naruto's lying to her when he confirmed his backgrounds to her. The topic itself, while interesting, is of no immense importance to her, so she will put it on hold.

Naruto sees the black haired girl sighing. Looks like she's thinking of something serious. By the way, as they were speaking, he's finished his bread and milk. He likes having a light lunch, because eating too much during lunch will make him sluggish. This is remedied by eating a full meal during dinner. Speaking of dinner, he really need to start cooking his own meals… he might have money, but eating out all the time doesn't seem very smart, financially speaking.

Shoving in the plastic wrap and milk carton into the plastic bag, he looks at the clock hanged on the wall inside the room. It's almost time for class.

"Well, I guess I'll take my leave, Yukino-san." Naruto stands from his seat, carrying the plastic bag. "It's almost time for class, so you should too."

From her seat, Yukino closes her book, nodding. "Indeed."

* * *

"Hey, come on Hayato, just today? Please…?"

"I can't do it today, I'm off to go to club meeting."

"Can't you just skip it for today? They got this special promo on ice cream that I really want to try out today…"

"Sorry Yumiko, but, the meeting we'll be discussing some very important things…"

That is pretty much how Hayato's group conversation goes.

Naruto grows to realize how importance social hierarchy is in school. Using Hayato as an example, he is something what girls would call a one hundred percent guy. He's blessed with good looks, charismatic personality, wealth from what he's heard about his family and some more. It gets him thinking, what if an ordinary person seeks to become as popular as Hayama Hayato? Do they even have a chance? Or is it impossible? How popular you are in school determines the people you'll find yourself talking too…

…at least that's what he thought during his first year at high school.

It seems that Shizuka omitted the fact that Yukino is one of the most famous students in school. He just found out about it when he passed through the third year's section of the school. Yukino is the most honored student in school, her scores rank the highest amongst the second years. And if the third years are talking about you with such respect, there is no way that you are not famous. So, is him being in a club together with such a high-spec girl something that could be considered lucky?

He'll buy that. Luck has always played an important role in his life, after all.

During his stay in the rebel militia base at an early point on his life, they would always force the kids – him included – to do minesweeping. Minesweeping is pretty much an easy way to get you killed next to being used as target practice by the militia. They'd force children to walk through military bases' territory, testing out the fields for mines. He'd seen body parts of six year olds being flung into the air from a mine explosion and it's not something that he will forget any time soon, if not ever.

One time, he was unfortunate enough to be the one in charge of minesweeping.

Though it was obvious that the place was a minefield, they still sent him out there to test the fields. However, due to some sick sense of humor from the Devil, or was it God's mysterious grace, he survived. He made it to the other side without triggering any of the explosives. The militia, from that point onwards, made him their favorite minesweeper, but not after sacrificing the life of… twenty or so war orphans.

Yeah… luck.

"Heh."

He shouldn't be laughing at a memory like that, he knows, but the more he thinks about it, the more unbelievable that experience is. Not dying where others die. Was it truly luck?

"Hey, haven't you heard? There's this new business that sprouts out of nowhere that deals with corporate and private security."

"Eh? What's this again, Itou? You're such a geek when it comes to these kinds of things…"

"No, no, hear me out! See, they're a foreign business and it seems that they're trying to expand their market in Japan."

Naruto, who is about to lift his bag in order to go attend club activities, finds himself sitting on his chair again.

"So, what's the deal with this private security business?"

"Well, private security company usually provides armed security services, usually for important private clients and all that."

"And? What does this got to do with you getting all giddy?"

"I don't know man, but, isn't it kind'a unnecessary for them to set up a branch here? I mean, Japan's a peaceful place…"

"Yeah, but you said that only important people use them, right? Maybe they're eager to entertain customers from those types only."

"Hmm… you have a point."

A sense of foreboding envelops Naruto's mind. The ex-mercenary feels that he might have just applied too much pressure on his grip on the edge of his table. Maybe he is just overthinking things? But with the call that he has received the other day, he cannot help but come to such conclusions. He needs to search into this matter soon… or he could just ignore it and let things unravel itself on its own.

Either way, something tells him that Japan will not be as peaceful as it did one year ago.

Standing up, he finally sets out to his club.

But he is interrupted.

"Uh, hey, Naruto?"

A female voice, one that he is familiar with, calls out to him. With his bag slung on his shoulder, he tilts his head so that he can see and confirm the identity of his caller. It's Yumiko. She and her gang, and Yui who is there too for some reason, are all looking at him. Hayama waves at him, showing Naruto his trademarked smile.

"We're about to go and grab some ice cream, Hayato can't though, since he has a club meeting. Wanna come?" Yumiko asks, her green eyes fixed to his blue orbs.

Shaking his head lightly, the blonde makes an apologetic look. Yumiko is slightly surprised, she rarely sees this kind of look from him. "Sorry, Miura-san, but I have club activities as well. Maybe next time?" he offers.

Shrugging, Yumiko answers, "Alright. See you then."

"A-Ano…!" everyone turns their attention to Yui, whose face flushes a light shade of red from all the attention she is receiving. "Eh… I think that I won't come too, Yumiko… I… eh… kinda want to…" and the rest is nothing but incoherent mutterings.

Yumiko is slightly frustrated at her pink haired friend. She knows of Yui's crush at the blonde foreigner, it's no secret within their circle, except maybe to Tobe because, well, he's Tobe. She's observed how their interactions went and it's very frustrating. Yui is too shy to do anything to Naruto and Naruto is… he's too Naruto to do anything. Sighing, Yumiko sends Yui a look.

"Alright, fine. But you're making it up to me tomorrow."

Yui's face brightens immediately; she envelops the taller girl in a huge hug. "Thank you so much Yumiko! Thank you so much!"

Feeling her overall body being crushed by the pressure of Yui's hug. Seriously, how can a girl this… well, she's not small, but she's still short… anyway, how can a girl like Yui have so much strength like this?

"Alright, alright! Yui!" she taps her pink haired friend on the back, voice strained because she's getting the air choked out of her. "Y-You're choking me!"

"Uwawawa! Sorry Yumiko!"

The rest laughs, seeing the interactions between the two. After finally freed from the hug, Yumiko leans in closer to Yui. "You better go now, Yui. He's getting away." Yumiko whispers quietly, so that only the two of them could hear what she's saying.

"Wha-?! R-Right!"

The group watches as their pink haired classmate leave the room hurriedly, eager to catch a certain whisker faced blonde. Of course, only Yumiko and the only other girl in the group know about the last part. Yumiko watches the doorframe where Yui's form has disappeared into with a small smile on her face. Yui has always been supportive about her feelings towards Hayato, so it's only natural that she should do the same thing to Yui's.

"Go get'im tiger."

* * *

"Uh… Naruto… isn't that Yukinon over there?"

Naruto looks up to see what the pink haired girl beside him is seeing. Indeed, it is Yukino. But what makes it worth noting is the fact that she's peeking inside the club room like a shady individual would do. But that's the problem; Yukino – being the club leader of the Service Club which occupies the room that she's currently peeking into – has no reason to act shady in the first place. She, technically, owns the room; so why is she peeking inside as if she's trying to see what she's not supposed to see.

Walking up towards the suspicious-like black haired girl, Naruto and Yui finally calls out to her.

"Yukino-san, what are you doing?"

Startled, as suggested by the small flinch she does, Yukino turns around and sighs in relief. She motions for the two to come closer to take a look with her. "There's a suspicious person inside the room, Yuigahama-san, Naruto-kun." She makes some space so that the two newcomers could peek inside and see what she is talking about.

The two take a peek inside the room and are greeted by a sight that they will not forget.

There are papers scattered everywhere on the room, but mostly the floors. But what takes the cake is the person standing near the windows, a trench coat wearing, chubby individual with hair dyed the same color metal. Naruto muses over the fact that this person is wearing a trench coat, despite it not being cold outside, but what amuses him is the hair. Why would anyone dye their hair the same color as old people's hair?

Somewhere in Eastern Europe, a certain masked man sneezes.

The identity of the trench coat wearing individual still remains a mystery, because neither of the three is making the effort of approaching the person. Naruto, after several minutes of musing, finally slides open the door, alerting the grey haired boy of their presence. In a manner of style that Naruto is not used to seeing, the trench coat garbed and bespectacled boy flaps his coat grandiosely, it's obvious that he is aiming for flair.

"I ask of thee." The boy starts speaking, his voice serious. "Art thou a member of this club?"

Naruto blinks several times. He turns to Yukino and Yui and he sees them hiding behind the door, wary of the boy. Naruto turns his attention to the chubbier boy, finally answering his question.

But his sly personality takes over.

[Yes, I am a member of this club. Who might you be?]

There are many things that he has learned from being a foreigner who lives in Japan, one of the most common and obvious one is that folks here do not expect you to know Japanese. His master also mentioned something about it sometimes in the past, and how much of a blessing it would be if you act like a stupid, ignorant gaijin when the situation calls for it. And right now, the situation is just perfect. The look on the trench coat wearing boy's face shifts from serious bravado into something that goes along the lines of nervousness and paranoia. Gone is the confident, grandiose pose that he's struck, replaced by a fidgeting and averting of eyes.

To make things even uncomfortable for the glasses boy, he was not speaking in English. English is a common language that most Japanese people know, but Russian? The same cannot be said, unfortunately.

"Eh… uh… e-eto…" the boy fidgets around, sweating profusely from the pores of his skin. "Uh… _aii donu spiik ingirisu_ …"

Yeah, definitely worth the tease.

Shaking his head, while holding back a chuckle, Naruto smiles. "Sorry, I can understand Japanese." He sees the boy visibly relaxes once he's speaking in Zaimokuza's native tongue. "May I ask what are you doing here?" He looks around. "And are these your papers scattered around the room?"

Zaimokuza might be relaxed knowing that Naruto could in fact speak Japanese, but being the loner and unsociable person he is, he cannot help but feel nervous when talking to Naruto. "I-Indeed, those are mine papers! A-Ahem." The glasses wearing boy coughs to his gloved fists. "Is this not the service club?"

Naruto nods. "Yes, this is the service club." He pauses. "Are you here for a request?"

"Umu! You are correct!" and the grand way of speaking returns. "I am here for a request and… eh…" momentarily, the fidgeting returns. "A-Are those two girls hiding behind the door members too? W-Why are they hiding?"

Should he tell him the truth? Naruto's aware that he might just hurt the guy, but he sees no point in lying. "Oh, them? They thought you're someone suspicious." The blonde says in the most nonchalant voice that a person has ever spoken.

"UGH!" Zaimokuza recoils as if he's been shot by a bullet, clutching his chest over where his heart is at with a pained expression his face. He would've toppled to the ground if it isn't for his feet maintaining balance. "S-Such honesty…! Y-You do not hold back do you, my foreign comrade?"

Comrade?

"Uh… speaking of which, who are you?" Naruto asks while bending down to pick up some of the scattered papers. "And are these… yours?"

"Umu! They are indeed mine." Zaimokuza confirms, after having recovered from Naruto's comment. "And to answer your first question, I am the Blade Master General, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru!" he strikes a heroic pose, one that Naruto, Yukino and Yui finds very awkward. "And, as I have said before, I am here for a formal request." He pauses and then he finally looks sheepish. "Uh… can you help me gather the rest of the papers, please?"

After several minutes of paper gathering, rearranging said papers and confirming the person's identity of being a legitimate student of this school; Naruto, Yui and Yukino gathers to listen to what Zaimokuza has to say. None of the three recognize the boy, fortunately, so his sudden presence in the club room is throwing the usual dynamics off the window.

"So… you are Zai _kimo_ … I mean, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru-kun, right?"

"W-What was that slip just now…?" the glasses wearing boy mutters weakly. He coughs, recomposing himself. "I-Indeed… I-I am Zaimokuza Yoshiteru…" for someone who is here to ask for a formal request, he sure doesn't look the part. With all the 'avoiding eye contact' gestures that he's been doing the moment he's talking to Yukino, it's hard to say if this person is the person as the one before.

Yui does not say anything, simply because she does not know who this person is. Something about the boy still unsettles her… maybe it's because of the fact that he's wearing a hundred percent leather trench coat despite it not being cold outside.

Naruto, on the other hand, is occupied with the papers that he's helped gather from before. Yukino too is aware of the papers that were scattered all around the club room earlier and she intends to reprimand the coat wearing boy, but it seems that she will have to hold that off for a second.

"Right." Yukino nods. "So, what is it that you want to request, Zaimokuza-kun?"

Loosening the collar of his shirt, Zaimokuza struggles to speak. He's been eyeing the floor or anywhere else that isn't Yukino's general direction. "U-Uh… I've heard from Hiratsuka-sensei that the residents of this place are obligated to fulfill my wish…" he trails off, voice slowly disappearing into the ether, before eventually mustering up more courage to speak. "U-Uh… is that true?"

Humming, Yukino brushes a strand of hair from her face, answering the boy. "That is somewhat true. We are not here to fulfill your wish as you have falsely claimed, but we will try to help you in any way we can." Her eyes travel towards the stack of papers that are currently being read by the resident blonde. "I assume that whatever it is that you need helping with involve those papers?"

Nodding, Zaimokuza can only do so meekly. "T-That is indeed true…"

Yukino feels a burst of annoyance popping inside of her head. The way this person is avoiding her while talking to her is irritating her. "Please look at me when you are speaking, Zaimokuza-kun, you are being rude."

The grey haired boy lets out a very girlish shriek as his whole form flinch from hearing the scolding tone from the girl. "Eeeek!" he is sweating even more now. "U-Uh…"

"And please do speak properly, I refuse to speak to people who are incompetent in speaking."

"Gaaaah!"

Yukino's words are like whips to Zaimokuza, each letters carrying their own unique and devastating impact. After several seconds of recovering from the onslaught, the bespectacled boy speaks again. "T-Those papers are story drafts f-for a light novel that I am planning to write and… I… wanted insight from people in order to improve what I've… wrote…"

Yukino takes a moment to think. Just an opinion of some story? This should pose no trouble.

But as the black haired girl is about to ask for the draft from the blonde, said blonde hands it over to Zaimokuza wordlessly.

"Naruto…?" Yui asks, staring at the silent blonde.

The blonde himself is quiet. His expression shows nothing, not even contemplation. However, inside his head, thoughts are running like runners on a marathon. He's just read what Zaimokuza has written and has memorized most of the stuffs that he's written. Though his knowledge of such medium is limited, he does not have to know much in order to spot the mistakes, blunders and overall poorly written structures on the paper.

Yui watches as her blonde friend shows no reaction or whatsoever to her calling, it makes the club room's atmosphere tense, almost as if any single movement that Naruto might make is just enough to make the entire room explode. Yukino is more or less feeling the same kind of tension too, but for an entirely different reason. She is able to detect the fact that the blonde is in fact currently thinking, but what she's amazed with is how unreadable his expression is in deep thought. He shows neither intention nor reaction, as if he's contained everything inside his head to prevent any leakage of expression.

After what seems to be five minutes of silence, Naruto finally speaks.

"Zaimokuza…san." The blonde starts.

"Y-Yes?!" squeaks the chubby boy.

"There are two different sets of actions that people would do when they make mistakes." He raises a finger. "One: they think about it long and hard, find ways to make sure that it doesn't happen again and ultimately improving themselves so that they could rise above them." another finger. "Or two: they only learn of their mistakes, think long and hard about it and then labeling it as one of their worst traits."

The words that have come out of Naruto's mouth are perfectly articulated, fluent and precise; with a perfect register to carry out the tone.

"If I tell you what I really think about your paper, which one of the two will you do?"

Zaimokuza finds himself speechless. He is unable to answer the blonde's question, as if the words are getting stuck in his throat. "Uh… I… eh…" only uncertainty lingers in his tone, his head clouded with hesitation. After several seconds of waiting from Naruto's end, Zaimokuza finally answers. "Eh… the first one… I guess?"

The blonde smiles, a small but potent smile.

"Good. Then I will not hold back."

Ten minutes have passed, and it was the most intense ten minutes that both Yui and Yukino has ever experienced in their life.

Zaimokuza is now officially on the ground, pale as death with his soul threatening to escape from his mouth. Naruto has chewed him for ten minutes straight about how bad his writing is. He did not hold back nor did he hesitate to voice what is in his thoughts. Supposedly, it should've been more appropriate if Yukino was the one who delivered the criticism, but she was unable to do anything as she was too busy listening to the words that spewed out of the blonde's mouth like machine gun rounds as they bore metaphorical holes on Zaimokuza's being. She'll be honest, Naruto – when he was chewing out Zaimokuza – reminds her of her mother. And that terrifies her just a little bit. Though there are truths in his words, she's seen the work herself, merciless is one of the adjective appropriate to be used when describing Naruto's critic at Zaimokuza's work.

Yui, unlike Yukino, is taking it in a much different spectrum. She's so used to seeing the blonde in his stoic, listless, sometimes sly and teasing personalities. So seeing him harshly breaking down another person's work and effort right before her very eyes is very… shocking, scary even. She's never seen the boy being so vocal at voicing something, even during class, and she's always looking at him! N-Not that she's implying anything by that, but that but seeing Naruto laying down cold, hard facts about Zaimokuza's… poor output makes her uneasy. Looking at the target of Naruto's onslaught, she cannot help but feel sincere pity for the boy.

"…and that is why I think that your output is not fit to be published any time soon." The ex-PMC concludes his… critic in his trademarked stoic voice. He blinks, just realizing that Zaimokuza is now kneeling on the ground with… eighty percent of his complexion gone. "Zaimokuza-san, are you listening?"

"I-I think that you've done enough, Naruto!" Yui immediately interrupts. Though she's a clue at how bad the boy's work is, no man on earth deserves to be torn apart in such manners.

"Indeed, Naruto-kun." Yukino agrees with Yui, probably with the same reason. "Let me take over from here."

Shrugging, the blonde sits down, he visibly relaxes into his chair.

"Zaimokuza-kun, while what Naruto-kun has said is indeed true, there is still some hope for you."

That got a reaction from the pale boy, though nothing more than a slight twitch.

"Though it still has more ways to go before it could even be considered a proper form of narrative, I do recommend counseling such things with your literature teacher or your languages teacher. They will know what to do and give you better insights." Naruto nods along to that suggestion.

"Y-Yeeees… thank you very muuuuuuch…" the boy is nothing but a husk of his former shell now.

Both girls turn towards Naruto.

"What did I do?"

* * *

The nights in Chiba can be rather chilly if you're not used to the cold. Breezy winds are the only things that you'll have to worry about at this time of the year, so it's not strange if you're seen wearing more than a layer of clothing. Longer sleeves, socks, maybe even a muffler for those who are sensitive to the cold…

…but the cold never really bother him.

Walking, he dons a simple red t-shirt with no particular designs of whatsoever. A pair of black cargo pants and his desert tan boots are all he needs to complete the set. His short hair gives him less resistance to the wind, so it's safe to say that he won't have to worry about hair getting all over his eyes. A G-Shock wristwatch is strapped to his left wrist, while an olive paracord bracelet to his right.

It's exactly 1750 hours and in ten minutes, he should reach his destination.

This Kage person… he knows nothing about him, but not vice versa, unfortunately. This Kage person might have records, both official and unofficial, about him dating back to his younger years and involvement in the Middle East and the recent skirmishes he's been participating in in the Slavic region. Those are the least of his worries, in fact, he's not worried at all… he'll just have to hope that his worries won't surface any time soon.

Pushing the door, he enters a small little café at the corner of a street. Upon entering, the scent of coffee immediately invades his senses, causing him to scrunch his face in repulse. He reviews the text message he got from Kage a day ago.

' **Schwarzwaldspitze café. Corner table. Sleeping.'**

Brief, concise and to the point.

He's inside the café, all he has to do now is to find the corner table and… sleeping?

' _Ah.'_

Approaching the corner table, now he knows what 'sleeping' means. Sleeping means what it literally means, sleeping. As in, someone sleeping. A person. Yes, a person is currently sleeping, face planted on the table, with a cup of now cold tea on the table in front of him. Naruto hesitates for a moment, contemplating the situation. After a second, he decides to sit down on the opposite sofa seat.

The man in front of him is… not a man. No. In fact, he's around his age… yeah, that's right. The person sleeping with his face planted on the table opposite to him is also a teenager like him. Naruto could sit here and wait for him to wake up, but he's not about to do. So, he tapped the table three times, waking the man up.

"Ugh… guh… huh?" the man, with drool trickling down the corner of his lips, blink sleepily at him. "Urh… so you're here." he yawns, wiping the cracks that have formed around his eyes. "Well, let's start talking shall we, I doubt that you like getting your time wasted as much as I do…"

The… pineapple haired man dressed in grey shirt and windbreaker is exactly as he sounds like at the phone, lazy.

"Oh, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kage." The black haired boy pauses. "But since that you'll be seeing me a lot from now on, you can call me Shikamaru. Nara Shikamaru."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto looks confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Suppressing a sigh, and failing in doing so, Shikamaru takes a moment to massage his temples. "Look here, blondie. Do you know how famous you are? Or should I say _infamous_ you are?"

Without changing his expression, Naruto motions him to elaborate.

"See here: your reputation precedes you. A lot." Shikamaru pauses, narrow eyes staring at the blonde. "Tell me, have you been hearing anything from your former mentor in the past one year?"

Naruto narrows his eyes. "What does that have to do with our conversation?" the blonde asks, careful to not let his impatience leak out.

"I'm not gonna go and sugarcoat anything." Shikamaru leans in the table, whispering,

"Kakashi is in trouble."

Naruto's eyes widen like saucer plates. Without thinking, he grabs the pineapple haired boy by the collar, pulling their face closer by several inches. Naruto's cold blue eyes bore into Shikamaru's listless but calculative brown orbs. "Explain."

"Then let me go." Despite the position he's in, Shikamaru manages to maintain a calm composure. And Naruto lets go, letting the other boy lean back on his seat. "Sheesh… this was my newest jacket too… anyway, yes, you heard me right Kakashi is in danger." Shikamaru can feel the sheer danger radiating from Naruto. "And you are the only one who can help him."

Naruto does not say anything.

"Seven months ago, he and his team were in charge of protecting and securing a secret facility within the Chechen region. I wasn't able to get the exact location, but it's somewhere where things go bad rather easily. Not much is known about the facility itself, but from all the sources I have and could gather, they all pretty much hints of some sort of military grade hardware or equipment. Now you might be wondering, how can your former master, a man known to be one of the most dangerous people on the planet, be bested and got himself in danger? Well, the answer's simple, he got betrayed."

"Leafcorp…" imagine a tiger growling as it is about to pounce on its prey. The word comes out of Naruto's mouth just like that, it even makes Shikamaru uneasy.

"R-Right, Leafcorp." Coughing, Shikamaru gets the topic back on track. "We do not know why Leafcorp betrayed your former master and his men just like that, as doing so would not only be detrimental to them but dangerous too – knowing what kind of person your former master is – and in addition to that, they'll lose one of their prized and the most respected figure in the organization. But I did a little digging, as it turns out, Leafcorp's been rubbing dirt all over your former master's reputation. Right now, they're telling their other operative that Kakashi was the one who turned against the organization, killed his own men and took whatever's kept inside the facility for himself."

Naruto's blood is boiling. He has never felt so angry in his life.

"Currently, Kakashi's whereabouts are unknown, and we want it to stay that way." Shikamaru notices the subtle changes that are happening to Naruto. The edge of the table that the blonde has been gripping on is almost shattered. "But by now you're probably wondering, who am I? Why am I telling you this? For whom am I working?"

Naruto merely lets his gaze meet the other boy's.

"I… won't lie to you." Shikamaru says grimly. "Me telling you all of this is to bait you into doing what we want you to do for us, in other words, we're somewhat using you, but you figured that out already, right?" chuckling, no humor is intended. "The things that I've told you are all truths and Leafcorp is up to things that me and my people do not like. That brings us to the next and last question."

Instead of speaking, Shikamaru pulls out something from the pocket of his windbreaker, something metallic and polished, gleaming underneath the dim lights of the café. It is a badge… but it's not federal related or police related at all. There is a design carved onto the metal trinket, a design that shows two swords crossing with their tip pointed downwards with a shield over them similarly to what a skull and crossbones would look like on a pirate's flag, five stars above the shield on the upper corner of the badge and a banner design with Latin words that spells out **'SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM'** etched into it.

"What am I looking at?"

"I am from Para Bellum." Shikamaru says. "And we… we would like you to help us in exchange for information about Kakashi."

"What is it that you want me to do?"

"We want you to help us stop Leafcorp for good."

Naruto does not speak for a while. "What makes you think that I can't do that myself?"

"What makes you think that we do not know that you are not capable of doing it yourself?" The pineapple haired boy counters without missing a beat. "We know that you're good at what you do. Too good, in fact. I've read your reports myself and I wasn't able to sleep for two whole days after reading half the shit you've done in the Middle East and Eastern Europe." Shikamaru shivers, as if to prove his point.

"But this… this is different now. We're not in the fields out there anymore. We're not in a place where the only ones there are the enemy and us. We're in a place where there are countless of innocent lives, ignorant to what's happening behind the scene. You can't just shoot all your troubles away anymore. You need to play it smart, discreet and sometimes, clean."

Closing his eyes, Naruto recomposes himself. His posture visibly relaxes and he is no longer gripping the hell out of the table anymore. The blonde eyes the boy in front of him, doing so openly. So far, he cannot detect any lie from the boy. But it's obvious that he's not telling him everything.

His master is in danger, but he should not worry… his master is a smart man, he knows what to do in a situation like this. He's his mentor after all and the mentor will always be better than the student. But… Kakashi is still human, there's no telling when his luck, skill and guts will run out. Judging from what Shikamaru has said to him, Kakashi is currently off the radar, which means that Leafcorp is having trouble tracking him down. This can also mean one thing: Leafcorp will come after him too. And he prefers for that to not happen any time soon. He is not left with much of a choice here. Either face this, swinging around blindly in the dark and rely on his battle honed instincts, or work together with an unknown group that could potentially leave him vulnerable and play the role of their dog for a while to get what he wants.

Closing his eyes, Naruto immerses himself in deep thought. After a while, he opens them again.

"Let us set several things straight here, Shikamaru." Naruto begins. And Shikamaru gulps. How can those eyes be so scary? "You and your people do not get to order me around, I choose my missions. Second, should I suspect any suspicious activities from your end, I will immediately set out on a manhunt for your people, starting from you. And third, if you dare to involve the people around me into this mess…"

Shikamaru is pushed back to the cushion of his seat, sweat pouring down his back.

"…let's just say that Leafcorp would be the next thing on my list of _'Things I_ _ **need**_ _to eradicate'_ with Para Bellum being the first on that list. Can we agree to those terms, Nara Shikamaru-san?"

Nodding sluggishly, the other boy could only utter weakly. "Y-Yes…"

Naruto nods. "Good. I want you to send me details of my first assignment and if I decided to accept it, I will inform you." standing up, he walks out of his seat. Leaving behind several small changes, Naruto then gives Shikamaru one last look. "That's for your drink. Sorry I wasted it."

After saying that, he leaves the café, exiting through the front door. As soon as he's out of the area, Shikamaru takes out his phone, presses a number and brings it close to his ear.

"I talked to him. He was scary as hell… man… yeah, he accepted, but he'll be the one calling the shots. What do you expect me to do? Buy him coffee and convince him with cake? Yeah… yeah… alright… I'll send his first assignment tomorrow." He cuts the line, sighing, "troublesome."

This is going to be a rough week.

* * *

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Yukinoshita-dono, let us begin with a little bit of introduction shall we?"

Throughout her life, she has met many types of people. Bad people, sly people, violent people, cruel people, selfish people, manipulative people, scheming people and many more… but she has yet to meet someone with genuine goodness. And the person before her is none other than the Branch Director himself. A man who appears to know what he is doing and seasoned from years of experience in his field of work.

"My name is Namikaze Minato, and I govern over Leafcorp's activities in Japan."

A blonde haired man that does not look Japanese at all greets her with a polite, practiced and formal bow. He has a smile fixed to his that reminded Yukine of one of her business partners whom she is close with. "First and foremost, I would like to thank you for attending this meeting… even though there's no one else here with us."

That confirms it. This man reminds her of the Hayama's.

"Your pleasure is shared, Namikaze-dono." Yukine does a small curt bow, fitting the image of a traditional woman like her. She takes a seat on one of the sofa inside the large meeting room. Her assistant, Aoba, is standing by her side like a statue. "I must say, we did not expect your kind to appear in Japan."

Minato lets out a good natured laugh. "Indeed, we get that many times whenever we set up new offices in several other countries. After all, there're only a handful of businesses like us out there." He muses, chuckling lightly. "In any case, I assume that you are aware of Leafcorp's objective and mission?"

"My assistant has provided me with the necessary information regarding your organization, Namikaze-dono, but I have to say, I never have the opportunity to meet many people with the same aim that your company has." In other words, she is not entirely familiar with private-security companies.

"I see, then, let us make this first meeting all the more memorable, shall we?" Minato's smile never leaves his face, his blue eyes radiating with so much warmth that it appears to be practiced. "As the invitation I've sent you said, the reason I called you here is to discuss things that will benefit the both of us. You see, since we are new in the Japanese market, we are not able to expand our influence with the locals yet."

With a clap of his hands, the light in the room dims down, before turning the room completely dark. A projector descends from a panel on the ceiling, turns on and projects an image of men dressed in construction uniforms with harness and all of the necessary equipment to do a large scale project.

"Leafcorp is not so big when it comes to construction, but what we lack in building; we excel in shipping as well as transport. Logistics, basically." The blonde man explains in a pleasing and likeable tone that is fitting of his image. "Currently, our current branch office will not be able to hold all of the necessary storage that we are planning to send here, so we are thinking of having the Yukinoshita Group to build a storage facility for us."

Yukine reacts to his words. "A facility? And isn't it easier to find out that already exists in Japan?" the woman's tone is inquiring, she desires to learn of the reason for such a request. "And might I ask what is it that you are storing? I cannot say that I have a clear idea as I am not completely sure of why would a business that offers private security would require a storage unit… something as big as a facility, I might add?"

Chuckling, Minato nods in understanding. "I understand your curiosity, Yukinoshita-dono, but I am not allowed to share such a sensitive information with outsiders. However, I can at least tell you that the things that we store have gone through multiple legal check-ups, analysis and review from the Japanese government. I can share with you the official papers, if you'd like."

This man does not seem like he's lying, since there is no point in lying about something so big. Nodding, Yukine takes the man's reassurance.

"In addition to the facility, we would like to offer a contract for the Yukinoshita Group." The man says with a firm tone, but it never loses its warmness.

"What kind of contract?" Yukine has no time to drawl and hover around the topic. Offering a contract means that this man will be involving her family's business directly, and it is not something that she should skim over carelessly.

"Leafcorp would be more than happy to handle all of your business's logistics, transport and even shipping needs." Minato starts. "We will also offer some of our manpower, technologies and even non-sensitive data. But I am afraid that I cannot guarantee the best performance, but we are willing to try and help." Then, as an effect, he finally drops the final package. "Leafcorp will cover any expenses that comes from our side, so your business will not have to worry about managing your finances even further."

Yukine does not expect that the conversation would turn out like this. When she arrives here, she expects to meet some half-baked director who has no idea what he is doing, but here she is, sitting down and offered one of the most ridiculously and overwhelmingly generous offers that she has ever received in her entire career. Shock overtakes her features, but with the slight effort of her facial muscle, she is able to hide it.

"This is… this is surprising, Namikaze-dono, I won't lie to you." she isn't lying because she is seriously surprised. "And what do you want in exchange from us?"

"We would like the Yukinoshita Group to be our partner in future projects that require construction or building purposes. That is all, really."

Okay, now she is surprised. "You must be jesting, Namikaze-dono. A mere partnership for all of those offers? We might as well be ripping you off." At least that's more straightforward. "What will you gain from this?"

Minato hums, before pulling out a wireless remote from his shirt's pocket. "Not a lot, admittedly, but it will certainly help us with the tight schedule that we have." The projected image switches to cargo ships carrying a bountiful amount of cargo containers. The containers have Leafcorp's emblem or logo, which is a strange yet simple swirl like design with a triangle sticking out on the left bottom side of the spiral, one end of the spiral is extended into a notch. They say that symmetry in logos signifies how balanced, well organized, structured and communicated a corporate identity could be. Leafcorp's design is anything but symmetrical.

However, from the offer that she has been offered by Minato, she is beginning to think otherwise.

"We are occupied with a lot of things that require our attention, right now, this branch office has existed for the duration of three months and throughout that time period, we have been testing out our waters." The screen switches again, showing corporate titles that Yukine is familiar with. "We have been offering our security and logistic services to these companies and fortunately, we are making good results with them. We have predicted the need to expand and open up more offices as well as facilities in order to cope with future demands, clients and partners. However, as I have said before, construction is not something that Leafcorp is particularly good at."

So far, his reasoning has been reasonable. In order to keep up with the traffic of people, partnerships and clients that will be waiting in the future, Leafcorp would need to open up more offices to handle clients in other parts of Japan. But she has to admit, after only three months of starting and they have gone this far into the prediction stage, what manner of marketing have they done? She is more than impressed at this point. However, she cannot let fascination cloud her way of thinking. After all, this is a little bit suspicious.

The offer that Minato offered her earlier will, let's be honest, only benefit her. She is aware of Leafcorp's multinational and foreign influences on huge countries like Russia, the United States and some parts of the Middle East; so far, they have no significant records of delving their hands into Asian countries. She will have to take Minato's earlier words of 'testing out [their] waters' rather literally. But it is intriguing as to why Leafcorp is not relying on foreign assets to deal with all of its construction needs. While she is aware of how taxing – quite literally – painful, bothersome and risk-inducing it can be to involve assets that are foreign to the country that they currently operating in, it is still much easier to rely on existing resources rather than coming up with the means of finding more assets.

But… now that she thinks about it, it is indeed smarter to involve local businesses as it would benefit Leafcorp in the long run if they are planning to operate in Japan permanently. They might have to spend a lot of money first, but all of their overall cost will be cut from the lack of unnecessary and taxing – again, literally – shipping that they have to be done. Japan's government does impose a rather large sum of money for shipping taxes. After thinking about this, it makes Minato's offer a little bit more reasonable. Being new to the Japanese market, his organization is willing to lose a few things in exchange for all the good things to come. They are willing to work extra, in hopes that they will gain more in the future and they will.

How can she reject such a beneficial proposal?

A good partnership with Leafcorp who, despite being primarily known for being a private security company, deals with shipping, it will open up many opportunities for her family's business. Their business have been relying on Japanese registered freighter ships to deal with shipping and transport, with the recent updates on tax bills and other proposed piece of legislations, more of their expenses end up used to cover shipping and transport. The thing about partnership is that her family's business could use Leafcorp's shipping assets for itself. This offer is starting to tempt her.

"Of course, Yukinoshita-dono, I will not pressure you for an answer immediately." Minato says, bringing Yukine from her thoughts. "I am aware that you need to discuss of such things with your husband as it requires a lot careful thinking." He claps his hands, and on cue, the lights are back on and the projector ascends back to the ceiling, the panel closing. "We will be waiting for your decision whenever you think you are ready." Standing up from his seat, Minato gives a deep and formal bow. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Yukinoshita-dono."

After several exchange of pleasantries and goodbyes, Minato watches as Yukinoshita Yukine's vehicle departs from the basement parking area and into the city. He overlooks the direction where the car has disappeared into with his cerulean blue eyes fixed to the road. The smile never leaves his face, as if it's been personally etched there by God Himself.

Sighing, the blonde Branch Director sits down on the cushioned and leather covered swivel chair behind his desk. He's no longer in the meeting room, instead, he is now in his personal office. The smile fades away from his face, replaced by a look of exhausted and tired expression. The blonde man leans back, the back rest of his chair articulating to allow him to fully lean according to comfort.

He dislikes lying.

Lying, for him, must be done only when it is necessary.

What he said to Yukine was no lie. Leafcorp is more than willing to offer her company those offers in exchange for a partnership.

But what the mouth does not speak, the mouth does not deceive.

He did not lie to Yukine. But not sharing information is not lying.

Ignorance is bliss… but lying is a sin…

"…right, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde haired man swivels his chair to face the window and the dark evening sky and looks up, catching a glimpse of the moon before it is hidden by the clouds. Unlike the moon which is now hidden behind the clouds, his smile returns, finding its place back on his face.

* * *

 **To those who support and wanted to see this becoming a full story, congratulations, because you will be seeing more of this story. To those who does not want to see this become a full story, I am sorry to say, but I am continuing this anyway.**

 **Now, I'll be focusing more on [I'm just an immortal living my life as a youthful teenager]. So, wait for that too.**


	4. Interactions

" _Naruto, are you awake?"_

 _A boy too young to be doing what he's been doing open his eyes, showing the grey haired man a pair of peerless azure eyes. The boy has not even reached the age for him to be called a teen, yet his appearance says otherwise. He is taller than an ordinary twelve year old, and his eyes, despite how beautiful they are, are jaded; making them look depressing and forlorn. His hair threatens to hide those beautiful blue eyes of his, it's been a month ever since his last haircut._

 _He picks up the sturdy and battle-wrought rifle that seems to have never left his side, even during sleep. The sleek, black, scratched but polished rifle is immediately fixed to his person, holding it as if it's an extension of his own body._

" _Still carrying that? We have more options you know, you don't have to stick to an AK all the time." The older man says, crossing his arms. Unlike the younger male, he has a FN-FAL with the stock folded strapped to his chest, a Trijicon ACOG 6x48 Scope attached to the upper Picatinny rails as optics and a fully loaded 30 rounds 7.62×51mm NATO magazine. Kakashi does not understand the boy's obsession with the AK. He's seen him using all kinds of Kalashnikov variants._

 _AK-47, AK-103, AKS-74U, AK-12, RPK, AKM… and the list goes on. Needless to say, the boy loves his AK._

 _The boy is none other than Naruto. His cheekbones are defined, nose prominent and jawline firm. It's hard to identify him as an underage boy from a single glance and his clothing is doing nothing but further the misunderstanding. Like his mentor, he is dressed in a long sleeved navy blue shirt with a high collar to protect him from the cold Russian night, a pair of matching heavy duty cargo pants with multiple tactical fittings fitted onto it, a plate carrier vest with three spare ammunitions fitted to the front Velcro straps for easy access, a pair of black combat boots with multiple socks stuffed inside so that he won't feel cold, a pair of olive green Oakley plastic studded gloves and a thick grey face mask which differs from his mentor's navy blue one. He also has a hood, but is simply not wearing it because it hinders his vision._

" _I'm fine with this, master." The boy's voice is muffled due to the thick layer of fabric covering the lower part of his face. The boy trails through the metal and plastic surface of the gun he's carrying, as if to emphasize the scars that the gun seemingly has._

" _Well, okay then." After hearing that, Kakashi does not know what to say anymore. "Anyway, hope that you took a nice nap, because we won't be getting any sleep anytime soon."_

 _On cue, the boy snaps into attention._

" _Easy there, we're not going to do anything just yet." Kakashi motions for the boy to ease up. "I've talked to the Serbian commander leading the assault on City-R, we'll be spearheading the assault, making an opening for their forces to rush in and finish up the job. After that, we're to assist them in combat against Russian forces."_

"… _what about support?" the boy asks, unafraid despite the idea of having to rush into the battlefield first than the others. "Are we on our own?"_

" _The Serbs have their mortars set up at a strategic location at a hill a few clicks away from the AO, but we shouldn't count on that." as the snow falls harder, a few dusts off his hair due to the shaking of head. "Your team will be the first to get inserted into the combat zone, are you okay with that?"_

" _I'm ready, if that's what you're asking, master." The boy's reply is as crisp as the snow around him. Probably as cold too._

 _Underneath his own mask, Kakashi smiles. "Good. Lead your team and make sure to watch each other's backs. Capture a suitable location and hold it until the next team comes."_

"… _you don't have to tell me that, I know what I'm doing." Though his face is covered, the pout he's making is quite evident. "My team is one of the best, next to yours." The boy momentarily pauses. "In fact, we'll give you the city."_

 _The boy smirks underneath the mask. "I'll even wrap a nice bow on the town square for you."_

 _Chuckling, the older man ruffles the boy's hair that has gathered some snow, thus dusting off most of them in the process. "I know you're good for age, brat. But cockiness will get you nowhere. Remember that." Kakashi retracts his hand from the boy's hair after sensing the displeasure radiating from him. "My team will be busy fighting on the other front, so I'll leave it all to you, okay, Naruto?"_

 _Naruto._

 _A name that was given to the boy by the man who is now his mentor. The same man who showed him how much of a monster mankind could be. Yet, he respects a man like that._

" _Understood… master Kakashi."_

 _Underneath the pale moonlight, within the embrace of an unforgiving blizzard and before the beginning of one of the world's most brutal conflicts; a boy turns into a man. The boy turned man then embarks onto the ever distant battlefield with a worn out rifle in his young hands, backed with the help of his trusted men._

 _They were no more than five. Yet the walls of City-R collapse at their first assault._

 _All manners of defense or interception from the defender's side proved to be useless against the boy and his team of four._

 _The boy, leading men who were far older than he was, dragged the battle through the heart of the city; finding his place there._

 _They fought with efficiency and skill comparable to that of a nation's most decorated and experienced Special Force team, shooting down the defenders one bullet at a time._

 _When their guns ran out of bullets, they used the enemies' weapons to fight back._

 _When there were no more weapons to use, they used their knives to cut through their enemies._

 _And when their blades have grown dull, their hands did all the work._

 _In the end, when the remaining insertion team arrived at the heart of the city, they were greeted with a sight that they will never ever forget._

 _The town's square, the heart of the city, with the bodies of its defender splattered all over as if it has been painted by a tumultuous horde of unruly children. At the center of it all, they stood, their body drenched and soaked with the blood of their enemies and the ashes of the battlefield sticking to them like a second skin… victorious._

 _It was a frightening sight._

 _A group of five, one of them being a minor, men capable of pushing back the defending forces to a retreat from their own city is insane. Surreal. Impossible. But there they were, standing, as if they've been expecting reinforcements to arrive any later._

 _Out of the five men, the shortest of them all, who also happened to be the bloodiest of them all, spoke to the rest of the insertion team, in a high pitched tone that separates him from the men._

" _Gentlemen, the city is yours."_

* * *

"…Naruto! Are you listening?"

He returns to the reality of the situation at the drop of a hat. It seems that his habit of recollecting past events is still stuck to him like Chernobyl nuclear reactor stuck to its concrete grave. The blonde takes a second to remind himself of where he is. The classroom. No teacher, meaning that it's currently lunch break.

Naruto gazes at the female that, apparently, has been calling out to him while he was absorbed in his trance. No surprise, it's Yui. And judging by the pout that she's making, it seems that she finds his ignorance of the attention she has been demanding from him displeasing.

"Why are you always dozing off whenever I'm calling you?" she asks, her voice insecure. "Am I not worth your attention, Naruto?" under normal circumstances, a normal boy would swoon and reassure her with a thousand of reassuring words in the gentlest form and way they could ever muster. But he is no normal boy and neither is he going to swoon and reassure her with a thousand of reassuring words in the gentlest form and way that he could muster.

Naruto offers her an apologetic look, saying, "Sorry Yui, looks like I blanked out there for a second."

But his reply serves only to upset her even more. "Muu… you did more than just blanking out for a second! I was calling out to you for a full minute!" she expresses her frustration with an exaggerated stretching of her hands to emphasize the length of time he has been ignoring her for.

"Again, I apologize."

"Urk… when you do that, it's unfair for me…" the girl mutters to herself.

"What was that?" the blonde asks, his ears briefly picking up incoherent words from Yui's mouth.

"Nothing!" as if she's done a blunder, Yui exclaims, denying everything. "Anyway, what were you thinking about?"

Naruto actually thinks. He's thinking whether or not he should tell her that he was actually recalling one of his bloodiest battles in Eastern Europe back when he was only twelve, just to see what kind of reaction that would get out of her. But after a few more seconds of thinking, he decides not to.

"About home." the blonde says in his trademarked cryptic and concise manner.

"Home? You lived in the US, right?" Yui asks, her tone showing her excitement. "What's it like living the US? Did you have many friends? What kind of school did you go through?"

He has to admire her straightforwardness. It's hard to refuse her when she's like this, especially when she's this close to him. Shrugging, the blonde says, "It's… not really interesting. Since my guardian's job requires him to travel into many countries in the world, I have to miss school a lot of times, I even got expelled twice because of that, so I transferred schools a few times too."

Yui frowns after hearing how the story turns out to be. "Heeeh… but, but, you're smart though."

"My guardian taught me all the things that I need to know." Naruto calmly says to reassure his pink haired friend. "That includes my knowledge and general academics. My guardian's Japanese, so you have him to thank for my fluent speech."

"Whoa…" The sense of awe that comes out from Yui's mouth is definitely real. She leans back on the chair that she's borrowed in order to talk to him. "Was it fun, travelling around the world, I mean."

A faint smile graces the blonde's visage, stretching his whisker-like marks slightly. "Fun… hm… I guess you could say that."

Yes, fun. He'll admit it. Getting into gunfights with armed resistance, have mortar shells exploding only a few feet away from you, nearly having the plane you were in shot down from the sky, camping in an unnamed forest in the middle of a blizzard and killing people in overall can sometimes… be… fun.

Right?

"Uwaaa… there's that look on your face, Naruto…" the girl in front of the blonde whines, looking a little bit concerned.

Blinking, the blonde looks at her for elaboration. "What kind of look?"

"That look!" Yui stresses out, as if Naruto should know what she's talking about. "You'll always smile when you're thinking of something… unrelated to… I dunno… school or something!"

Oh? Yui's surprisingly sharp.

"And does that displease you, Yui?"

"W-Well… no… but… it's…" the girl purses her lips, hesitating. "It's uncomfortable for me to not know what you're thinking about… y'know…"

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto finds her answer to be unexpected. "So, it worries you when I'm not transparent about my thoughts." He clarifies.

"Yeah. But, only because I… eh…" red tints her cheeks as her eyes refuse to meet his or anywhere near him. "…I care… about you… and what you're thinking about…"

It was a whisper, meant to be carried by the wind, yet even with how noisy the classroom is, Naruto hears her reasoning as clear as a crystal.

Naruto is not dumb, but he's no genius either.

He knows what Yui is implying, maybe it's completely wrong, but he has a clear assumption of what it is. The blonde cannot say that he's keen on touching the topic, but he's aware that it exists. As the pupil of one of the world's strongest soldier, he's told to approach or handle problems in more than just one way, sadly for him, those are only limited to violence.

But this thing with Yui, he cannot help but be clueless.

"…I see. I care about you too, Yui."

She sees him smile.

"You're a good friend."

She returns his smile, but somehow, it's different. She giggles, her expression clearly showing how elated she is. "I'm glad that you consider me your friend."

Looks like that encounter with her dog was not a mistake after all. Looks like them meeting in the same school wasn't something done from a whim after all.

"But if you really care about our friendship Yui…" The blonde drawls out, muttering in a rather low voice. His eyes are transfixed to the girl's pink hair, the obvious hair dye is doing a rather excellent job at grabbing his attention.

"Hm, what was that?" the girl asks, completely clueless to what the boy has just said.

"…no, it's nothing." The boy smiles reassuringly. At the same time, the door to the classroom slides open, revealing someone none other than Hiratsuka Shizuka herself. "Anyway, the teacher's here."

"Um!"

The linger words that he did not manage to say… is it wise to tell her? Surely, she would mistake it for something else entirely… but regardless, if Yuigahama Yui truly values the friendship that they have, then…

…she'll know when to end it.

If she doesn't, then, she'll have to learn.

* * *

"Naruto, pass!"

"Hayato, fight-o~!"

Soccer is considered to be the world's most popular sport and this is true. There are countless matches held in the past for soccer, hundreds if not thousands of people have made millions if not billions of dollar worth of money from just playing several matches alone. These athletes deserve what they got because they trained hard to be at the spot where they are at right now. To bridge that gap between a professional soccer athlete and normal high school boys, it's safe to say that getting tired is something that is shared between the two identities.

But after seeing Naruto play… looks like not all people get tired when playing it.

The blonde takes the position of a forward player. The role of the forward player is to make passes, preferably to the striker in order for the latter to score goals. In other words, he's playing passive-offensive. He's not actively trying to score goals, but will try to score goals when he could. Luckily for Naruto's team, they have the best of both worlds with them.

Hayato, an efficient goal-scorer with a deadly aim, the striker.

And Naruto, a relentless precision passer with a never ending stamina, the forward.

These two… they're like two AIs in a soccer game coded to play aggressive-offensive at the highest difficulty there is.

Needless to say, the scoreboard's leaning towards their side of the scale.

"Go Hayato-kun!"

"Naruto-kun you're so cool!"

The girls are having a field day… pun not intended.

"Naruto!" Hayato shouts. He has two defenders behind him, paces away from blocking him completely. But he pays them no mind, he's focused at the goal and the metaphorical goal to score.

The ball is currently in the possession of the blonde foreigner, who's outrunning his pursuers, the remaining two defenders. He hears Hayato shouting his name on the other side of the field – which is not that far by the way – and that's the only sign he needs in order to make the pass. He stops the ball, bringing himself and the two defenders to a halt. The defenders have him cornered, literally as he's almost at the edge of the field, but not quite. With the edge of his foot, he brings the ball to the air, catching the two defenders off guard. As their focus are fixed to the ball which is currently in mid-air, Naruto jumps, flips his body and kicks the ball in mid-air.

"A bicycle kick! Uwoooh!" the audience marvels as the witness the perfectly executed pass.

Hayato sees this and he reacts with the appropriate action. The goal keeper has been put in a situation where he must decide which side of the field he should be paying attention to. If he goes left, then he'll miss out Hayato. If he goes right, then he'll miss the opportunity to catch the ball. Caught between two choices, he chooses the former. The goal keeper's job is the only role that allows a player to hold the ball with his hands, after all. The keeper throws his body towards the direction of the goal, hands stretched with the intention of snatching the ball as if it's a bundle of baby that has been carelessly dropped by an idiot father.

But unfortunately for him and his team, Hayato is already there first.

The son of the lawyer to the Yukinoshita family reels his head back, before letting it go, hitting the ball straight on whilst it's in mid-air. The ball launches forward, the impact from Hayato's heading being the reason of its sudden kinetic shift.

It's a goal.

Everyone cheers. Those who're in Hayato and Naruto's team cheer the loudest and they celebrate by hugging and shaking the hands of other players, both friends and foes. Naruto manages to pick himself off the ground in order to see the winning shot and it was as he expected it to be. Obviously, the match is theirs; a whopping 11 - 3 on their favor, a major landslide, in other words.

"Yo, Naruto-kun, good game out there!"

"Yeah, that bicycle kick was so cool, can you teach me that?"

Several guys approach him, bombarding him with congratulations and questions alike. Naruto breathes out, circulating the air inside his system. He gives the other grateful nods for their words. Playing soccer is good exercise, especially if it's done in a proper field, unlike this one. Still, it was a good game, one that he enjoyed.

"Naruto, good game back there. Never knew you could play like that." Hayato himself arrives to offer the genuine blonde his congratulations. "You play often?" the fake blonde asks his genuine counterpart, while holding a plastic water bottle filled with, duh, water.

Naruto shrugs, his expression fixed in the usual listless and uninterested mask. "Not really, but I've played several matches before. None of them were professional, though." Back in Leafcorp, he'd play all kinds of sports with the others, not just soccer. But Hayato doesn't need to know this. "Good game to you too, that last goal was definitely worth that pass."

The son of a lawyer laughs sheepishly, his modesty really is showing. "No, no, it's more like a split second decision, besides; I couldn't have kicked a ball that high in the air anyway." Hayato explains while smiling. "Want to play another match?"

Naruto looks at the sky, frowning at how the clouds are covering the sun. While playing soccer in the rain feels liberating and provides a sense of relief that he can't quite explain, the idea of having to return inside the changing room dripping in rain water is not something that he's particularly comfortable with. So, he declines.

"No thanks. The sky's hinting at rain, this is my last match for the day." Naruto says.

"I see." Hayato looks up, taking a look at the sky. "You're right, it looks like it'll rain anytime soon. Oh well, guess we'll have to play another day."

Naruto snorts.

 _Rain, rain, go away, come again another day…_

The ex-mercenary shakes his head, dismissing whatever silly thoughts that occurred in his head. He walks towards the sidelines to gather his things; water bottle, change of clothes and etcetera. Unknown to him, he's being watched by a pair of endearing eyes that expresses nothing but admiration. The owner of the aforementioned eyes smiles warmly.

* * *

 **Open your front door.**

Now normally, such a cryptic, sudden and mysterious message would make anyone paranoid, nervous or even scared. But he is expecting this. Still, not that he knows what's standing in front of his front door…

The message is sent from an unknown number, which is not surprising. In fact, he will be more surprised if it isn't, since he has not registered anyone's phone number instead of Shikamaru.

With a slight pulling motion, his front door swings open. The creaking noise that the door emits is enough to bring suspense into the atmosphere, with no particular expression or whatsoever, the blonde teenager looks downward.

His azure eyes blink as they land on the brown, cardboard box that is laid out right outside of his front door. The box itself is a relatively small box, it does not reach up to his knees and he is sure that he can pick it up no problem. Bending his body forward, he then squats down on full heels, preventing tension on his thighs and calves. His eyes glaze over the box, examining it briefly for any details worth noticing.

And immediately, he finds something worth noticing.

 _A gift from a friend._

…reads the soft ballpoint writing etched on the side of the box.

The penmanship itself is written legibly, making it visible even if it's written on a cardboard's surface. Obviously, it's in Japanese. And he gets the feeling that the sender is none-other than his new friends Parabellum. Sighing, the blue eyed teen picks up the box, stands up then returns inside his house, locking the door behind him.

He brings the box to the living room, places it on top of the dining table and proceeds to open it. It takes him no more than three seconds to get the sealed top off and the inside of the box is filled with an excessive amount of Styrofoam bits. Undoubtedly, the Styrofoam acts as cushioning for what's inside. Reaching inside the box, his fingers touch something cold. Something metallic. Curious, he grabs the mysterious item and brings it out of the box.

"…what is this?"

It's not really a knife… and it's not really a dagger, but from design and looks, he can confidently tell that it is meant to be used in the same manner as the two aforementioned tools.

First of all, it's light. Way lighter than what he'd expect a… dagger of this size should normally be. Everything about the dagger is made out of metal, safe for the strange red ink scribbled cloth wrapped around the hilt. The blade is shaped surreally too, making him think on whether or not this is hand-forged or factory stamped. The blade is tri-pronged, which means it has three points and is bulkier than most knives. Most of the weight resides here. It has an O-ring at the end of the hilt, which reminds him of South-East Asian blades, the Karambit in particular. The dagger is symmetrical, should he put a mirror side by side this blade, it should be able to form a perfect reflection.

Combining the symmetrical design of the dagger, less bulk on the hilt area and more material that adds more weight on the blade… this is no doubt a weapon that is not meant for throwing.

Naruto's eyes are fixed upon the intricate looking piece of art. If he is still working out there in the fields, he'll never use this as a weapon. Simply because it's too beautiful for him to use in battle…

Regardless of whatever situation that this blade is meant to be used in, he's still clueless as to why Parabellum sent him this dagger. What, is he supposed to believe that this is their way of saying 'Don't kill us! Here, have this fancy looking knife instead!'? Hah.

Gripping the blade in his hands, the hilt is wrapped around his palms perfectly. Muscle memory kicks in and with a flick of his wrist, he flips the blade in a reverse grip, not hitting his hand or whatsoever. This blade really reminds him of a Karambit. Thinking about that, he inserts his pointer into the ring, gripping the dagger like one would do a Karambit. He twirls it, spinning it by the ring. After several seconds of tinkering, he's finally used to the weight and overall feel of the weapon.

The blonde takes his finger off the blade, placing it on the table next to the box. Still curious about the box, which Styrofoam bits are now scattered, he takes another and closer look inside. Rummaging through the box, he's intent on finding anything that he might have left behind. But after a minute of checking, there's nothing inside.

"Just a knife… no notes…" this is interesting, yet awfully fishy at the same time. The gut feeling inside of him is telling him that Parabellum may not be the one who sent him this… 'gift'. He hates feeling uncertain, because that way, he has no way of expecting what might happen later.

Sighing, Naruto repacks the box, seals it tight and tosses it off somewhere for him to properly clean later. He picks up the dagger, this time he's not inserting a finger inside the ring, and carries it with him to his room upstairs.

He'll need to do a little bit of research.

* * *

Yukinoshita Haruno hates pointless chatter as much as the intellectually competent person next door.

But she cannot deny its usefulness.

"Ahahaha!"

She hates the way this man laugh as if he's worthy of her smiles.

"Ne, ne, Haruno-chan, you seeing anyone right now?"

And the nerve of this man… why is she here in the first place?

This particular evening, with the aftermaths of rain still in full effect, Yukinoshita Haruno finds herself in a less than pleasing situation. It's not her first time, nor will it be her last, sadly, but she is still not used to the fact that she has to entertain grown men like she's some sort of courtesan from the renaissance era. She does not enjoy this one bit. If it isn't for the fact that she's doing this for her family, she won't even step a foot anywhere near these dirty old men.

Speaking of her subjects, most of them are her father's… business partners. Yes, that seems to be an appropriate term. Their usefulness and importance may be questionable in the role of her family's business; it will still look bad for the Yukinoshita's if she's to decline an invitation from them. Thankfully, she is not entirely alone in this private lounge.

A spacious private lounge on one of Chiba's famous commercial district, second to the highest floor with the floor above being a personal residence to the man who she is currently… entertaining. The entirety of the room is best described in one word: grand. From the velvety red, luscious carpet to the detailed engravings on the edge of the ceiling, the designer of this room definitely did his or her job well… undoubtedly, since they must have received a very large sum of money to make this room exist. There are several other people. Men and women dressed in apparels appropriate for the occasion.

Expensive Armani business suits, genuine leather Hermes bags that must have cost both an arm and leg to purchase… it amuses her to see just how hard people try to impress others.

But what can she say? She's the same.

She, herself, is also dressed for the occasion. A strapless purple dress hugs her desirable body, leaving little to the imagination. The dress ends just above her upper thigh, giving everyone a view of the creamy eternity that is her legs. A pair of maroon, jewel studded wedges shoes protects her bare feet from the ground. With grace and naughty schemes, she loosens the faux black leather choker around her neck, making her all the more tantalizing. The fluttering of her eyelids is reminiscent to an Atrophaneura hector butterfly, teasing, transient… elusive.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

But Yukinoshita Haruno does not work all the time, nor is she Jack, nor is she a boy…

The man she is accompanying seems to be reading her signals wrong, like most men out there. The sweat that gathers on his forehead drip, signs of temptation clear on his eyes. Like a barometer with too much pressure readings, he's on the edge of bursting. The potbellied politician gulps, as if it's his only way to repress the rising urge in his system.

Haruno knows full well the effect of her actions. And, yes, she's doing it on purpose. But for what purpose, exactly?

She can't really say. But… is there a need for one?

"N-Ne, Haruno-san… you're a beautiful young woman." The older man begins his futile approach. "And you're definitely around the age where you're thinking on getting married, right?"

"Oh?" she will amuse him a little bit. "Am I? Hm… I cannot say I've ever thought of something as serious as marriage." Everything, from her expression until the tone of her voice, is staged. "Ah, but now that you mentioned it… I remember mother saying something similar along those lines."

This last point, however and unfortunately, is a fact.

"T-Then, what about it? How about we get hitched?"

 _Never._

…is the only word that's on her mind. If Haruno is any lesser woman, which she is not, she would have shouted what's in her mind at that point without restrain. Instead of shouting her refusal, she giggles. The corner of her lips stretching, showing the man a smile that melts his heart even more.

"Hmm~… I'm not sure if I should rush into something like that." begins the woman with a playful look. "Marriage is a serious thing, after all." She's only half-kidding here. "By the way, Endo-san, how's your wife? Is she doing well?"

The effect is instant. The man recoils, surprised, nearly dropping the glass of champagne that he has been holding all this time. Sweat breaks out profusely around his facial features, eyebrows bending in and out to express his surprise. He begins to stutter like a broken radio; it's as if he's lost his earlier flair. The man's squinty eyes desperately try to look around, finding something that could excuse him out of this conversation.

"E-Eh… ah… ehm…!"

Inwardly, Yukinoshita Haruno is smiling.

Outwardly, Yukinoshita Haruno is still smiling, but for a completely different reason.

"E-Excuse me, I-I need to make a call…!"

And he flees from the spot. If she's alone inside this room, she would have laughed her beautiful behind off at the spectacle, however, she knows when and how to act. So, she does the next best thing instead:

"…heh."

Smile.

She retreats back to the liquor fountain, grabbing herself a nice glass of wine that is poured by one of the servers there. Finding a spot next to the large, multi-paneled window, she lifts the wine-filled glass above eye level. The dark, purplish-red liquid is positioned in a manner so that it looks like it's enveloping the moon.

With a smile, she watches as the peerless, circular, white disk is fully swallowed by the potent, dark liquid.

* * *

"What am I here for, Hiratsuka-sensei?"

Needless to say, after learning about the less-than-likeable situation that his mentor is in, his mood is not in the best of… condition. However, he still maintains a listlessly stoic façade, shrouding the stormy seas underneath a convincing facial barrier. Within that barrier, a tireless Olympic is currently occurring inside his head. He has things to worry, things that may just involve the people around him, and ultimately, people from this school. He cannot allow that to happen. He won't.

"Nothing serious, fortunately." Shizuka begins with a sigh. Looks like he's not the only one with a bad day. "Your grades are too good for any serious pep talk but…" her lips purse, and was that hesitation on her eyes? "…alright, I'll be straightforward with you… how are things with Yukinoshita and her club?"

Not that he isn't expecting it to be brought up to the table or anything, it's just that, he never thought that Shizuka would bring it up so soon. It hasn't even been four days ever since he joined the Service Club.

"Everything is fine, no need to worry." He assures the teacher.

"Hm…" Shizuka is giving him a very thorough observation. She hums, eyes darting from places to places and she has not blinked from the moment she dozes off. Eventually, she recomposes herself to catch up with the conversation. "Alright. You two also had your first client, right?" she asks. "Yuigahama, if I was not mistaken?"

"Yes." Naruto answers her curtly.

"If you don't mind me being too inquisitive here… what do you think of Yukinoshita?" imagine Shizuka asking this with the straightest face that she could muster. It isn't sure for what purpose the question is for, but she seems serious enough to convince Naruto that he should answer her with the same amount of seriousness as the one she has.

"She's… tolerable." Shizuka raises an eyebrow. "It might have been awkward at first, but we'll get try to get along." He's being very careful with his wordings here. He knows that his teacher is a sharp woman and that she'll definitely question each point as if she's just dissected his sentence with scalpel.

"I see." It seems that she's holding back. It's clear for Naruto that she wants to say more, but for some reason, she's holding back.

Currently, it's recess. He was just about to have his lunch but Shizuka told him to come with her to the faculty room right away after first period was over. Admittedly, he's a little bit irritated that some of his recess time is wasted talking, but if it's from a teacher, he'll let this one slide.

"Then, is she doing her job well?"

The blue eyed blonde blinks several time, failing to register Shizuka's question. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Is she doing her job well? Remember what I told her to do when I brought you into the club?"

It takes Naruto no more than a second to remember what Shizuka is talking about. "Ah… yes, this is about how she is supposed to help me _improve_ my social life in this school." It is rather awkward remembering that particular memory… for some reason.

"Yes. So, any progress?"

Naruto takes several seconds to choose his words carefully. "While Yukino-san is indeed helping me… integrate with this new lifestyle, the progress that we're making is slow." He pauses, as if he's made a mistake in wording out his thoughts. "In fact, I don't think that progress could be measured."

Shizuka looks at him with a rather amused look on her face. She chuckles all the while shaking her head. "Oh, trust me, it can be measured… and yes, you're right, progress is slow. Thing is, Naruto, you're all formal."

"But you're a teacher, isn't that how it's supposed to be?"

She… can't really argue with that.

"U-Uh… what I'm trying to say is, your register is formal." The teacher corrects herself. "I've observed you from time to time during recess period, seeing if you're interacting with anyone at all. To my relief, you make constant conversations with your classmates. Some even try to approach you outside of class. However, you're creating another set of barrier between you and them after breaking your previous one."

Naruto tilts his head cluelessly.

"…let's see it like this: Naruto," the blonde raises an eyebrow, "do you talk to your classmates the way you talk to me or any other teachers?" the woman asks her student.

"Not… always, but… I guess so, yes." Not a straight answer, which is strange from the boy.

"See? That's the point. You're making your friends uncomfortable if you're speaking to them like you'd do to your… let's say… teacher. They want you to be on the same level as them. The fact that you're a foreigner with completely different features and origin is already a concept alien to them, you don't have to speak to them formally all the time."

The blonde nods, finally understanding what his teacher is trying to say. He should have seen this. Through reminiscing and observations, he has to admit that the way he talks to his peers is rather… contained. Sure, he makes sure to sound as friendly and approachable as possible but he did not take register into account.

"…I'll do something about it then, Hiratsuka-sensei."

Hearing his response, Shizuka smiles. "That's what I want to hear." She leans back on her chair, stretching her back. "You can go now, I've taken enough of your time."

He nods. "By your leave." Then, he leaves the faculty room.

Shizuka watches as her foreign student exits the faculty room. Sighing, the teacher shakes her head. Looks like there is still some more work to be done to make him really… experience this whole thing.

* * *

"Oh, hey, Naruto!"

A pair of azure eyes open, taking in the sight of a bubbly pink haired girl hopping leisurely towards his direction. The sheer cheer radiating from the girl is already an indication of her current mood, proven further by the large and seemingly eternal smile fixed to her face as if someone has just glued it over there. It takes the blonde haired foreigner a few seconds to place his lunch, a combination of chocolate bread and plain white milk, down before he can even attend to the huge bundle of joy that is friend.

"Yui," he nods, eyes glazing over the girl's cheeks, spotting something out of the ordinary, ", you have a bead of rice stuck to your cheek." He points out, using his fingers to, pun not intended, pin-point the location he is talking about on his own cheek.

The, as evidence provides, messy eater stops dead on her tracks, eyes wide, redness spreading across her face. "E-Eh?! Really?" she checks, and true enough, the lone rice grain is indeed there. "A-Aww… that's so embarrassing…" the girl moans out like a whale in pain, before quickly eating the grain of rice as if she's trying to hide a very serious blunder.

Naruto cannot fight the urge to roll his eyes. But seeing Yui acting like this isn't something strange to him, good, he's getting used to it. "What's wrong Yui?"

"I saw you eating and I figured that I'd drop by and say hello or something… ehehe…" awkwardly, the girl pokes one of her cheek with a finger, face turning red for reasons that are oblivious to the blonde.

"I see." Naruto nods. Her reason is understandable for him.

But then, after having said that, the air around them transforms; descending, into an uncomfortable atmosphere of awkward quietness and silence. Naruto is, if he has to say a reason, eating. And thus, he cannot be bothered to talk. However, he's almost done eating with the pace he's going. He is seated comfortably on the low cement wall somewhere near the back of the school. He's often seen eating here because of how nice the wind is in this particular area. Near the sea, the scent that the wind carries brings nothing more than nostalgia for him.

As someone who can be officially classified as a child soldier, this particular nostalgia is short of uncomfortable memories. The scent of the sea, the chilly air and the sensation of wind blowing against his skin are three key triggers for him to remember a particular, scenic and nostalgic memory. At the same time, his happiness is not without a little pinch of sadness. Maybe that's why he's eating in snail's pace right now.

Whilst the boy is lost in his own inner world, the girl who is with the boy has been observing him with doe-like eyes. Yui does not know why she is particularly fond of the boy. She just knows that she is. Ever since that day, which also happens to be the first day they meet, Cupid or any other form of matchmaking arbiter has planted a seed inside her heart. And that seed is love. So far, nothing big has happened with that seed, at most, a little tiny shoot is what has become of the seed now.

Still, it's growing each day. That much she can confirm.

So, from just a simple act of observing him, looking at him, it makes her chest pounds way and way too much. Even now, she's perfectly aware she's dozing off. She can no longer feel the world around her, only him. Her eyes take in every single detail that his body, face and gesture have to offer for her.

His abnormally tall height which distinguishes him from the normal Japanese male is easily one of the reasons for her brain being comparable to that of a vegetable. His eyes, blue, vibrant yet mysterious draws her own pair even more each time they meet hers during conversations. The structure of his face, personality be damned, she is just a girl. And girls like her, definitely, consider the boy in front of her attractive. And… most of all, and this is just her, his posture.

Being someone who's proud to call herself as a social butterfly, Yui considers herself as someone who is very expressive. Sometimes a little bit too much… is what her friends have said to her.

Naruto… he's not very expressive, true, but the same cannot be said for his posture and tone. Unlike the others around her, he always carries this air of being aware and ready for seemingly everything that a busy daily life has to offer folks like her. He stands on both feet, tall and upright. When he's sitting, he always has his back straight and soles touching the floor while both hands are placed on top of the surface if there's one. When he's talking he always manages eye contact, never even failing once! It even comes to a point where it makes it hard for her to talk to him sometimes!

Her feet will get cold, weak and fidgety. Her brain will feel like the times when she has to do her Physics test. And most important, she cannot help herself from stuttering or even looking embarrassed.

This is a sickness, her times from those days where she used to read Shoujo Manga every night before bed tells her so.

But according to her friends, it's love.

"Hm?"

The sound of something buzzing instantly snaps her out of her midday doze. She sees Naruto, who has finished eating, reaching into one of the pockets of his pants to pull out his phone. Yui is perfectly aware that she has to give Naruto some space and privacy to answer the call, but she cannot help but be curious herself.

Fortunately for her, the boy is too focused on answering his phone to tell her of her presence.

"Hello?"

Yui's heart thumps loudly. Anxiety fills her heart as hundreds if not thousands of questions begin to fill her mind.

Who is he talking to? Is it a guy or a girl? What's his phone number? Will he want to have hers?

Although the first two are the ones she's most interested in…

"…of course. Tonight."

Her heart is beating loudly, so loud she's confident that anyone will be able to hear it. He's meeting someone tonight? Is it a friend? O-Or is it… a…

She cannot finish her thoughts.

She just can't.

"See you."

So it's really someone after all!

Uneasiness fills her mind, causing the anxiety she has been feeling to increase insurmountably. Fear consumes her and, it's embarrassing to admit it, it feels as if she's going to cry.

"Sorry about that, Yui." Naruto's voice pierces through her anxiety and doubt. "An acquaintance of mine called, saying that they want to meet me."

Acquaintance.

Hearing that specific term somehow erases all of the doubt and fear that she has felt earlier. Acquaintances are not friends and it's most definitely not a term that someone will use to refer to their significant other. Yui's body threatened to fall in relief. She feels as if the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders, causing her to let out a rather huge and not-so-subtle sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?" of course, this reaction does not go unnoticed by the boy. He's wondering why she's sighing.

"N-No, it's nothing." She manages to breathe out with hints of joy and happiness, but she is careful not to let them really show. "An acquaintance?" she does not know why she asks him, but there's no denying the curiosity behind that question.

"Yes." Naruto replies with his cool and stoic voice. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about, though." He mentally curses himself. Saying it like that will definitely make Yui curious about that phone call, as if it's not strange enough to receive a sudden phone call in the middle of the day during school while having lunch in the open in the first place.

"I… see." She expects that type of response from him. After all, it is not her business. But she'll be damned if she leaves the conversation to a dead end here. "S-So, Naruto, do you eat here often?" God, she wants to hit herself for asking such a stupid question!

That's got to be the lamest question and conversation starter ever! It's the same as asking someone how's the weather when the both of you know that it's fine!

While the girl is dealing with her inner turmoil, the boy is currently also dealing with one of his own.

How should he answer her? He does not eat here often, but that answer won't be anything if not underwhelming for her. Shizuka told him that he needs to be more… casual and relaxed when talking to classmates…

…does that include lying?

Immediately, every muscle in the boy's body tensed. He does not show it, but he is in fact gritting his teeth. His eyes are blinking repeatedly to shake off the uneasiness he's feeling.

Though it might seem… childish and naïve of him to admit this… he really hates lying. The concept and the existence of lies itself, to be more exact.

But most of all, he hates it when he has to lie in order to do good. An oxymoron, right, but it's something more along the lines of necessity. Don't get him wrong, he's done a lot of horrible things, things that most people will definitely consider worse than lying. But… that's exactly what makes lying so damn annoying. It's the easiest form of sin, yet it's considered to be the 'smallest' or the least bad one.

So, he has no choice but to be boring here.

"No. I just wanted a change of scenery."

"I see…" Yui's glad that, at least, the conversation's still going. "Where do you u-usually eat, then?" why is she asking these questions?!

"At the roof." He pauses. "If not the cafeteria sometimes."

"Oh." She's going to make a mental note of that… aaaand save! "And do you usually eat bread and milk only?" this time, she's not hiding her curiosity. She's been wondering, but, does Naruto not cook for himself?

"Most of the time, yes. But… I do fancy myself some ramen…" For some reason he cannot explain, he feels a little bit embarrassed to admit that, as shown by the faint flushing of his cheeks.

Yui blinks, noticing the thin and almost-invisible redness dusting the taller boy's cheeks. What was that?! That was so cute! That was dangerous for her heart, who knows that Naruto can be cute? Is this what those otaku guys in her class call Gap Moe? If so, then she wants-no, she **needs** to see more of this from the blonde!

"Ahahaha… guhehehe… izzatso…?" seeing such a reaction from him has made her laughing all weird and heart giddy. Why oh why is she so weird? After a moment of self-praising for managing to see Naruto make such a face, Yui sees a familiar streak of silver from the corner of her eyes.

"Sai-chan!"

Naruto instinctively turns his back, seeing who this 'Sai-chan' is.

The soft pitter patters of running shoes gradually increases in decibels, its rhythm perfectly timed with the soft yet equally masculine steps of a short, silver haired individual dressed in clothing with a majority of green. It takes several more short seconds of examination for Naruto to realize that that is in fact the school's tracksuit uniform issued to students. He has one, but he just doesn't use it often. The newcomer then walks over to Yui, giving her a wave that is accompanied with a small smile.

' _A girl… no…'_ his eyes may have deceived him for the first ten seconds, but a careful and quick look at the person's throat does wonders in revealing several things.

"Ah, Naruto-san, a pleasure to meet you." the silver haired individual bows in acknowledgement of his presence, one that is done out of pleasantries and politeness. Maybe respect, too. "I saw your match the other day and I knew it, you're a really sporty person aren't you?"

Naruto blinks several times, indicating confusion. Is it really something to be excited about? How does that revelation excite a person in the first place? It seems that this… Sai-chan… is excited, as proven from how wide the smile on his cheeks is stretched and the intensity of vibrant glow in his eyes. It has come to a point where Naruto is feeling rather uneasy about this. He's never handled anything like this in his life.

"Uhm… I see…" he can only utter those words lamely, yes, even he considers himself lame. "Thank you?" it becomes a question, rather than an actual way of saying gratitude.

"Eh, Naruto, you don't know Sai-chan?" Yui buts into the conversation, creating a new kind of voice and topic. "But we're all in the same class though!"

Ignoring Yui's expressive display of surprise and reaction to Naruto's obliviousness, the blonde haired foreigner shrugs his broad shoulders, not the least guilty about it. "Hm…" nothing he can say here, really.

"Ahahaha…" fidgeting, almost as if he's some sort of child caught for eating the last cookie in the jar, the shortest of the three mutters out shyly and guiltily, "That's… my fault, actually…"

"Eh?" Yui is very vocal in voicing her surprise.

"Uh… eh… I was… nervous... ehehe…"

The simile of the silver haired youth as compared to a child who's been caught eating the last cookie in the jar is now even more convincing. He's not only fidgeting on his spot, but his fingers are intertwined, moving in a particular way that reminds Naruto of that one time when his co-worker had to wait for confirmation from mission command before engaging assault on an unnamed resistance camp headquartered on the outskirts of Baghdad.

"R-Right!" the pink haired girl bursts in agreement. "When Naruto first transferred I was kind'a nervous, cuz, I've never experienced being in the same class as a foreign transfer student before in my middle school, so like, it was kind'a exciting at the same time!" for someone who's nervous, she's awfully cheerful and happy now.

"Right?" the silver haired and tracksuit wearing student chuckles in amusement after seeing his pink haired friend's exuberant attitude leaking out into her explanation. "Ah, of course, it's not like I meant anything offensive when I said that I was nervous, Naruto-san. It's just that… well… ehehe…"

Naruto shakes his head in a robot-like manner. "None taken." If he remembers correctly… his first impression in this school was not the best and it certainly wasn't the cleanest, but it must've been the bloodiest and uncanniest impression that anyone has ever managed to leave behind in this school. But he's not going to be proud of that. "It's also a mistake of ignorance in my part for not noticing you…"

"Ah, that's right!" instead of the silver haired person himself, it's Yui who exclaims loudly. "This is Totsuka Saika. Or Sai-chan as I'd like to call him!" then, she giggles, a teasing expression forming on her face. "Despite the cute and feminine face, Sai-chan's actually a boy you know?"

"Oh, I know that."

"Right, surprised, ri-wait, what?!" the girl does a double take, blinking. "You know that?"

It seems that the surprised is not exclusive to Yui only, as the silver haired boy himself is showing cases of surprise, as indicated by the large eyes and slightly agape mouth. "How do you figure it out, Naruto?" Yui asks, wanting to know how her blonde classmate has managed to avoid making the same mistake that ninety nine percent of people that has met Saika has made.

The blonde raises a pointer to his own neck in a very calm and casual manner. "He has an Adam's apple. All boys have it." thank God that he only has to check that part. "But… I was almost fooled. Almost."

Hearing the continuity of his answer causes both Saika and Yui to chuckle.

"But Yui, I never know that you're so close with Naruto-san."

"Pyaaa!"

What is supposed to be an innocent statement elicits a rather… shameless display and response from the pink haired girl. As soon as Saika finishes speaking, Yui jumps several feet into the air like a startled cat… or dog in her case, before landing on her two feet again. Like before, her face is as red as strawberry with metaphorical steams gushing out of her ears. If this is some sort of Disney animated series, Naruto is sure that the girl will have be blowing out steam from her ears.

"I-Eh, it's eh… e-e-ehm… uh…!" similar to a ball of yarn, Yui's speech is tangled and compiled into one vocal nonsense that reflects nothing more than her embarrassment, as if her face hasn't done that well enough. Her reaction draws out mused chuckling from Saika yet natural indifference from the blonde.

In the blonde's defense, he's a little bit clueless as to why Yui's reacting the way she is. Feelings and personal thoughts aside, is being teased really that embarrassing? As a child back then, his master often teased him about making blunders – before correcting him for his behavior at least – in the field.

One time, the old Cyclops even joked about him being thrown into a concentration camp if he's caught snooping around the outskirts of Siberia.

That is a form of teasing… right?

In any case, he'll just have to get used to seeing other people get teased before he himself can experience it.

* * *

' _I'm here…'_

He's here, at the exact location where his contact told him to be at earlier during school from the phone call that disturbed his conversation with one Yuigahama Yui. 'here' is actually an unnamed bar, a place where a normal high school student like him should not be in without any adult company… then again, he is not a normal high school student. It's thanks to his foreign genes that no one's giving him suspicious looks, to them, he's just a gaijin in a Japanese Izakaya.

The place is jam packed with people. Most of them office workers who have had a day's worth of work fatigue piling up inside the bodies, only released by consuming the draft beers and fried foods that they order. His eyes quickly but effectively scanned the restaurant-sized-bar in a matter of quick seconds. Nothing stands out. That means his contact is not here yet or he's not in this part of the bar. There's a stairs leading upstairs to the second floor, and a small hallway near the bathroom entrance leading to the private rooms that are usually reserved for customers coming in groups.

His phone buzzes, alarming him and snapping him off his trance at the same time. Swiftly, his hands dig inside his pants' pocket, retrieving the tool for him to see. The screen shows a text with the sender ID Nara typed in black font.

 **I'm upstairs.**

Naruto is expecting a concise and short reply… for some reason.

"Ah, excuse me, may I help you, customer-san?" one brave waitress, properly dressed in her service uniform, approaches him and addresses him politely.

"I'm with a friend. He's upstairs." Is Naruto's fluent and casual reply.

"Understood, please, do not hesitate to press the buzzer if you want to order something." Giving one last polite bow, the waitress leaves him be, quickly tending to the other customers present downstairs.

Without making any room for waiting, the blonde haired teen walks upstairs to the second floor. The floor above is quieter as there are less people upstairs. Naturally, this is to be expected, especially when it's quicker to order and receive your orders when you're not somewhere far from the kitchen. But the almost trademarked Japanese work efficiency minimizes the chance of any blunder or errs from happening. This time, it takes him no more than a second to spot the already familiar pineapple-shaped hair and rugged windbreaker draped over a very sleepy individual, sleeping on the corner spot of the room.

Wordlessly, he makes his way to the table, sitting down quietly. He sits down, waiting several seconds, but his contact isn't awake yet. He taps the wooden table's surface and it works.

"Wha… eh, ugh… eh… oh, it's you."

Naruto rolls his eyes. Crossing his arms, the blonde is definitely proving his point clear; he's not here for pointless chatter.

"Yeah… wait a moment…" the black haired boy yawns loudly, as if he's departing away from sleepiness. "Hm… were you followed?"

"Do I look like an amateur to you?"

This time, Shikamaru blinks. He isn't expecting a snarky response from the blonde. That sure wakes him up. "Right. Sorry, my mistake." He coughs, clearing his throat. "I'm here to give you your first assignment."

Naruto says nothing. His silence is an indication for Shikamaru to continue his explanation.

"Recently, we've been monitoring LeafCorp's overall activity in Japan. Now before I proceed further, you'll need to learn about what LeafCorp's been doing in the past three months or so. Basically, they've been reaching out to other big groups, both private and public alike, and offering them contracts. Yes, you heard me right; LeafCorp's the one who's offering the contracts. Of course, this is because they have very little influence here in Japan, so they'll need to make friends quick and lots of them. These contracts mostly include security and logistics, but instead of asking for money as payment, LeafCorp's asking these companies to form a partnership with them."

"…" the blonde stays silent, before eventually opening his mouth to speak. "Say, I'm not much of a politician as much as I'm a soldier. Care to tell me why LeafCorp, a Private Military Company, is messing around in Japan?" he pauses again. "And why are they offering contracts to these people if they can just use their seemingly endless budget to establish a foundation here?"

"…well, see it like this: they want to leave an impression on the local businesses, basically, they were testing the waters so to speak. And, anyway, this partnership is allegedly their way of cooperating while simultaneously expanding their influence within the local market… but that's bullshit. Well, it's true, but it's not entirely for that reason alone. We know that LeafCorp is paying people to be their Watchdogs, moles, informants, whistleblowers or whatever inside these organizations or if not they're sending their own people to infiltrate and plant their seeds of fuck uppery for whatever future schemes that they're plotting. Or worse, and we're all betting that this is probably the real case, they want to establish a private military market in Asia, with Japan being the continent's headquarter."

Japan, while not as strategic as a location when compared to India – with its long western coastline exposed to the maritime traffic from the entire gulf or Arab world and Eastern Africa –, Turkey – a country that is literally stuck between the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia – or even Switzerland – not so much on strategy rather than safety as it sits on top of Europe's tallest mountain ranges -, is a very fancy playground when it comes to underground business, a market range that will definitely benefit LeafCorp. It's no secret that the Japs love their politics, and those who loves politics but refuses to play by government rules will find themselves as members of a Ninkyo Dantai.

But more to that later.

Before Shikamaru can continue, Naruto speaks out, with narrowed eyes. "You lot are… awfully very informed about this…"

"Hey, we've been against LeafCorp for a very long time now, way before they arrived in Japan. That and…" Shikamaru struggles. "…we have very skilled agents working for us in stuffs like gathering intel. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said when it comes to defending ourselves… but anyway, yeah, we've endured through every inch of nails in order to get this far… and then you came." The not-so-very motivated boy gestures to the blonde with a wave of his hand, almost as if he's showing a magic trick.

"Both our potential savior and destroyer."

Naruto snorts.

"In any case, that brings us to the 'now' of the topic: you see, all of these companies, businesses that LeafCorp's been reaching out to, are nothing compared to their – God forbids it – potential future partner:"

The boy pauses, breathing in.

"The Yukinoshita Conglomerate."

…

"…Пиздец пришел…"

* * *

 **Don't get excited, this is not me coming back and making consistent updates on this story or even Immortal.**

 **I'm still on hiatus, don't get me wrong, but I've found myself enough free time over the weekend to write this chapter. This is nothing big, this chapter isn't big and this isn't me rising up from sleep to work more on my stories. Consider this as those moments when you have to cut sleep in order to take a bathroom break or something…**

… **or tea breaks, dammit, need to buy me more leaves.**

 **My weird analogies and lack of tea leaves aside, the latter being very dire, I hope that all of you will take this chapter as a sign that I'm not dead… yet not quite alive.**

 **Until then.**


	5. First Assignment

The early bird gets the worm…

That saying means well for the bird, but not the worm. In this case, the early bird gets to eat the first worm that it sees, thus getting food earlier than other birds. If only that worm shows up later than it did, then it will have survived and live to see another day. So, by seeing the saying from another angle and perspective… one can say that the late worm survives the bird.

Unfortunately for him, he is the bird in this situation and his worm is nowhere to be seen.

The sound of his tongue clicking softly escapes his lips. A little bit of irritation and annoyance has filled his head. Four hours of fruitless waiting will do that to someone, but thankfully, the place he's waiting at is not as unbearable as an abandoned scout outpost or the ruins of a broken down house somewhere in the middle of the battlefield. He sees himself on the reflection of a mirror hanged on the wall of the establishment for the sole purpose of decoration, but at the moment, he's exploiting it for another use instead of its original intended purpose.

Blurs of customers entering the small, cozy, quiet and comfortable café goes unheeded by him, although he is fully aware of the increasing number of people inside the establishment. A small shop this place may be, but it seems that it has been doing a good job in rounding up customers. Blue eyes flicker over to all four corners of the shop, double checking for any speck of details that they might have missed minutes ago. Strange and off-putting hints on the serene scenery are what he's looking for.

Seeing nothing like those causes a sigh to escape from his lips.

Maybe his 'friends' from Parabellum are wrong about the intel? That's very unlikely. Not only they're wasting his time by sending him to a place where his objective may or may not be in, they will also waste their time in doing so. Or maybe this is all one huge trap? No. That's even more unlikely. His gut instincts are telling him that, whatever beef that Parabellum has with LeafCorp, it's all real and that kidding around and sending someone like him off to random cafés in a certain region of Japan sounds too much of an outrage and waste of effort.

If not those then… it only means two things:

His mission is leaked.

Or…

His target is really, really, **really** late.

This time, the former is actually the unlikeliest of reason. He finds it more believable for his target to be really late. From the reports sent to him by his partners, the guy is supposed to be here right after work hours. Though it varies from people to people, especially considering the position they have in their jobs, the common Japanese worker should already be out of their work by 1800 hours. Now, it's 2000 hours. Sitting here for hours isn't only going to make him lose his cool, but it'll also make him look suspicious. Thankfully, his disguise is working well enough to reduce the amount of attention directed at him.

Ditching his school uniform, he opts to wear the skin of your typical Japanese salaryman. Though he's failed miserable on the 'Japanese' part, at least he gets the salaryman part nailed to the coffin. White buttoned up shirt, black slacks, tie, shoes and coat. Those and a briefcase filled with dummy papers and fake documents that he's currently pretending to be checking should be enough to make him give the impression of someone who's taking his time to rearrange his files and documents after work. The glasses are just for show, but he'll take any chances he has in order to prevent people from recognizing him in case if he has to be here again next time in a different persona.

 **JINGLES**

Blue eyes dart towards the door fast, as expected from a trained soldier with years of battle experience. Immediately, all sense of irritation and boredom disappears, as if they are never there in the first place. His eyes and brain recognize the face of the person that has just entered the establishment in an instant. The small forehead, narrow eyes, wrinkled expression and easily noticeable balding and greying hair are all criteria with check marks filled. The man moseys over through the floor in a very casual manner, whether it's due to him being a frequent customer or the aftermath of stressful work, he'll never know.

He sits on the bar, directly in front of the barista making and serving drinks for the customers inside the café. It's near the entrance and exit and also an excellent place to cause a common blunder such as tripping over and 'accidentally' planting a tracking device onto a person's body. After reciting the plan in his mental storage hardware, the blue eyed blonde shifts his priorities.

Pulling out several Yen bills, just enough to cover up eight cups of coffee, he then begins to clean up his belongings, stuffing everything he has pulled out from his briefcase and placed on the table back inside the storage item. Staying still for exactly three seconds, the same amount of time needed to prepare himself for this 'daring' move he's about to pull, the disguised teen then stands up. Stiffly walking out of his seat, giving off the impression of someone who's suffering from slight muscle pain from sitting too long, the blonde limply walks through the floor to carry out his mission.

With carefully staged clumsiness, he falls to his knees and dropping his briefcase in the process. This, naturally, draws out attention from everyone inside the café, especially the person he has 'accidentally' bumped upon.

"Hey, watch it!"

"S-Sorry!" the words escape his mouth in a very heavy accented manner. "A-Are you hurt, sir?"

While the confusion is causing enough distraction for everyone, and the person himself, to not pay attention on his hands; he carefully slips the small, SD card-sized tracking device into the man's coat collar. The surface of the device has been coated in a sticky substance intended for this purpose; looks like Parabellum knows what they're doing. A string of apologies spits out the blonde's mouth to act out the role of a very apologetic Japanese stereotype in hopes to make his role all the more convincing.

After a full two minutes of apologizing and bowing, the man relents and finally lets him go. Uttering one last apology, he exits the café.

"…that was unexpectedly tiring."

Sighing, the blonde fixes his crooked collar and tightens the grip on his briefcase's handle. He gazes off to the far distance, eyes trailing skyward to see the darkening sky of Chiba with tall skyscraper protruding as if to pierce the clouds. His mission is done, though there was a slight delay, it is finally done.

He makes his way out of the area in a leisure place, trying to be as casual as he can. Whilst walking, he pulls out his phone and dials a specific number.

"Mission accomplished."

" **Good. You're free for the day, we'll tell you when we have the location."**

"…right."

The call ends without any goodbyes or any sense of finality. Pocketing the handy utility back inside his coat's pocket, he makes his way to the station, eagerly so if one might add.

* * *

He has no problems with waking up early in the morning. His previous career basically includes sleepless nights as its job description, not that they really wrote that down, but he's not a stranger to sleep deprivation. However, today, is a very special case.

He could not sleep last night, not even a wink. He's participated in going against LeafCorp along with the help of his new partner Parabellum, which is not the main reason for his lack of sleep. It's the uncertainty of LeafCorp's knowledge about him that's keeping him on his toes. LeafCorp has gotten a three months head start to learn everything about his new routine in Japan. Back then, when he was still working with LeafCorp, he didn't have to worry about being tracked down by the organization that was hiring him.

Well, mainly because he's always away with his master's supervision, but that's not the case here anymore.

LeafCorp is his enemy now. They have made an enemy out of his master, even as far as framing him for the murder of his own team. Though it is still unclear whether this is true or false, Parabellum can just fabricate this lie to make him work with them for all he knows, he will need all the help he can get in order to find out more about Kakashi. He is a soldier, not a fancy-shmancy secret agent with experience in infiltrating powerful organizations. He's used to charging with guns blazing into the field, not sneaking behind enemy's lines or crawling through air vents.

Looks like Shikamaru is right. This is different.

They say that as time advances, so does war. But not in the way that one might think. It changes, definitely, but the people fighting it are still the same faces. Sure the objectives might change, the way it's fought might change and the outcome may just be different, but the fact that war happens in itself is enough evidence that war, in fact, does not change… but evolves.

The idea of having to go against a powerful and influential organization like LeafCorp is surely wrecking his nerves, but he won't crack under pressure, his master has trained him to persevere and endure. It will be hard, and no one's saying that it won't, so he'll need to get ready.

He might have lied a little bit to Shikamaru last time during their talk in the bar. He's… handled a few businesses before, the kinds that don't involve someone dying, and he's confident enough to say that he knows what he's doing for most of them time. His master, from the countless times they've travelled through different countries and nations, has ingrained into him the importance of knowledge and intelligence. Knowing is half the battle, after all.

Preparation is one fourth of it.

Approaching the 'right' people, he's managed to get his hands on some tools that will help his job in the future. Though the term 'right' isn't the right term when used to describe members of the local Yakuza family, he'll settle for it since his previous job isn't exactly the legal kind of job anyway. He's procured illegal weaponries. Guns, a lot of magazines to go along with them and other trinkets that will hopefully help him in the near future. It's hard getting these things in a country like Japan. Unless you're a rich politician with money and influence to throw around, you'll have to snoop around in order to get these kinds of goods.

That begs the question as to why isn't he approaching Parabellum for equipment. The thing is that he does not trust Parabellum enough to send him equipment, especially if it's the kind that he'll often use. As time progress, tracking devices are becoming more advanced, better and smaller. He should know. That and he is also still a little bit nervous when it comes to receiving packages after that little dagger that someone sent him. He still hasn't found out anything about that. Parabellum, and LeafCorp too, probably has his house wiretapped or on surveillance. He'll need to do some early spring cleaning later.

All of this cumulated effort took days and hours of thinking and moving around, especially when it came to acquiring the tools. He had to use some of his savings too in order to purchase them, so it's safe to say that he won't be eating out anymore. Here he's hoping that he'll somehow get paid while doing these things. In any case, getting a little bit sidetracked there, it is safe to say that he has not been this busy ever since he was working with LeafCorp. He can enlist Parabellum's help in organizing and supplying, but again, he does not trust them one hundred percent.

"So… Naruto, care to explain why you're late?" Despite how intimidating and nerve inducing the question might be to most students, Shizuka is being casual. For her, it's a little bit surprisingly honestly, seeing one of the most mysterious and interesting student arriving at school late is something new to her. She's seen the blonde's first year attendance list, and he has perfect attendance back then. But it looks like he won't have it again this year.

"Sorry, sensei." It's obvious how tired he is just by looking at his eyes and the large black bags underneath them, but his voice still won't show it. "I've been having trouble sleeping lately."

Shizuka does not miss the informality of Naruto's speech. Though his register is still as foreign and clear as it is usually, it seems that he's using contractions to show he's really tired. "I can see that alright." Sighing, Shizuka puts down her pen and the file carrying the attendance list for her class. "I'll let you off the hook just this once, this is your first time being late after all." Then she smiles slyly. "But don't you dare sleep in class, mister. I won't like that."

Rolling his eyes, making sure that he's doing it discreetly, the blonde nods. "Affirmative."

Whilst these two are having their conversation, another late comer arrives into the scene. The other students, sans Naruto himself, are getting ready to prepare for their first morning class. So they're occupied with preparation, but if only they are willing to spare a little bit of their attention towards the door, they won't miss the sight of a very… intimidating girl walking into the classroom with a mean scowl on her face.

Shizuka, being the observant individual she is, notices the additional presence inside the room. Naturally, she calls out this newcomer. "Kawasaki, late again?"

The girl stops halfway through her walk when her name is mentioned. A soft but undeniably irate sigh can be heard escaping her lips, looks like she has no plans on being caught today… still she is caught. Turning around on her heels, miss I-give-no-fucks deliver her teacher a look that's a mixture between a glare and your usual 'whatever-ish' look.

"Was that question rhetorical, sensei?" the girl asks back in her low, unwilling and conservative voice.

Shizuka lets out a nasal snort. "Ha, ha. Very funny Kawasaki. Just for that, you owe me more papers than what your classmates owe." She keeps a mental reminder about that. "Anyway, go and take your seat Naruto, we'll begin today's lecture immediately."

The blonde shrugs. "Sure."

Something is telling him that today is going to be different.

* * *

"Totsuka…san?"

"A-Ah, Naruto-san, didn't see you there… ehehe…"

That is a lie.

The boy sits four tables away to his right, though the classroom is quite spacious – since it can fit around thirty plus people – Saika not being able to see him is obviously a lie. That brings up the next topic of question: the intention for lying.

Raising an eyebrow, the blonde foreign student shrugs. "I see. Is there anything I can help you with?" at the moment, they are just outside of their classroom. Since it's recess, they have the freedom to roam around the school until it ends.

"Ah, no, it's… eh… um…" nervous? Absolutely. Confused on what to say? No, it looks like Saika knows fully what he wants to ask of him. "D-Do you mind if I request the service club something?"

Just like that, the tension is lifted. Nodding his head, the blonde offers his shorter male companion an understanding look. Well, at least it's as understanding as Naruto can make it look like.

"Sure. Why don't we go to the service club now?" the blonde suggests. They can have their lunch there and he reckons that his club members are there as he's speaking now. "We'll consult this with the others."

The uneasy frown that is present moments ago on Saika's face has disappeared. In fact, it is replaced by a more fitting smile. "Really? Thank you! Wait for me, I need to take my lunch box!"

So he waits for the silver haired tennis prodigy outside while the aforementioned male rushes into the now desolate classroom to grab his lunchbox. Once he's done, Saika returns to Naruto with his lunchbox in hand. Looking up at the taller boy, Saika smiles. "Let's go."

"Sure."

The pair walks to the service club's home base of operations. It is not far from the classrooms, due to it being on the same floor, but with the canteen being located on the second floor, a place where almost everyone from school is currently at, their journey is not a quiet one. Students of both gender roams the floor's hallways whilst chatting or conversing with each other. There are no lockers placed on the halls, as it is for most Japanese high schools, so there's enough room to fit a lot of students who are roaming around from the canteen and back.

Naturally, Naruto remembers his way to the club room. He can journey there with his eyes closed if he has to. Never mind the exaggeration, the trip would have been shorter if it isn't for the bustling hallways filled with students transiting between specialized classes or lunch. After their abnormally lengthy walk, they reach a section of the building where it's quieter than the rest. This is where the clubs are located. This part of the floor is dedicated for club rooms so that clubs can conduct their activities comfortably. Of course, not all clubs are placed here. It'll be weird to see the soccer club headquartered here rather than the field, right?

Likewise, it isn't strange for a very… niche club like the Service Club to be headquartered inside rather than out.

With three soft taps on the wooden sliding door, Naruto waits for a reply from the inside.

A soft, borderline inaudible voice seeps through the door.

That's his cue. Sliding the door open, he's greeted by a sight that's steadily growing to be a familiar scene for him. The excess chairs and tables pushed towards the corners of the rooms to make up space in the middle, the lack of curtains covering the window panes and the strong but soothing scent of freshly brewed green tea leaves invading his nostrils. Yes, this is definitely an experience that he can definitely get familiar with.

"Ah, Naruto! Eh, Sai-chan, you're here too?!"

"Ara? It seems that you have brought us a potential client, Naruto-kun. Please, take a seat."

As always, their greetings are diverse from each other, but they carry the same intent. Welcoming. Yui has brought a chair for their client to sit on and it seems that Yukino is pouring tea into a paper cup, if her being at the brewing station is any indicator.

A soft and quiet nod is Naruto's acknowledgement of his two club mates' greetings. Saika is more outgoing, saying thank you and pleasantries. He moseys over to his usual spot, in the middle of the table with the most space. Yui sits opposite of him, occupying the other larger space of the table and Yukino has rightfully established her place on the smaller end of the table, as if emphasizing her position. The empty chair for Saika to sit on has been placed next to the male member of the Service Club, so, Saika finds his seat there.

"T-Thank you for having me here, Yui, Yukinoshita-san."

Yui smiles, as if it's natural to her. "No problem Sai-chan! So, do you have any requests?"

But Yukinoshita interjects strictly. "Yuigahama-san, I would like to kindly remind you that we do not deal with requests. We assist people, meaning we provide them with the tools necessary for the job, not doing the job itself."

"Oh yeah, ahahaha…"

Chuckling, the dangerously feminine boy finds the exchange amusing to his eyes. "I see. Then… would it be too much trouble to ask the Service Club to improve the overall performance of the tennis club?"

This naturally draws out several raised eyebrows, notably from Yukino and Naruto.

"Oh? Is the tennis club experiencing any difficulty, lately?" Yukino questions.

"No… well… it's hard to explain." The sigh that Saika has let out is equivalent to a sermon. "You see, lately, the tennis club hasn't been very effective and efficient when it comes to performances… and attendance. Every practice sessions you'll have members lazing around not doing anything and the ones that practiced aren't motivated enough to improve. This causes a drop in the number of attendance and we've been having more ghost members than ever."

So far, Saika's explanation has been textbook. A common problem for most sports club in schools.

"And… the only reason I can come up with is… uh… is me not being a very good captain." He finishes with a very sullen and demotivated look on his face.

His reason immediately receives a very vocal rejection. "Eeeh?! But you're a very good tennis player though, Sai-chan!" Yui wastes no time to go against her friend's idea. "T-They're probably just being ungrateful and lazy, that's all!"

Yukino hums, scratching her delicate porcelain-like chin. "Hmm… it would explain the decreased performance of the club, but not the lack of motivation." She says in a very contained tone. "Not to trample on Totsuka-kun's feelings, but just because he's a good tennis player, doesn't necessarily mean that he's a competent captain."

Saika winces, even though he's fully aware of the girl's intention. Yui makes an uneasy face and Naruto remains indifferent. A brief moment of silence consumes the room, making the air uncomfortable and strained. Yukino, finally feeling what the atmosphere has become around her, realizes the error she has made.

"W-What I meant to say is that… we should find… alternatives to deal with Totsuka-kun's request…" she has lost her spark, doused down by the flood of guilt.

The now awkward atmosphere reigns longer, showing no signs to leave or disappearing.

Naruto is beginning to feel the air himself. Looks like he'll have to say something quick.

"…practice?"

"Hm?" Yukino, eager to lift the mood, responds. "What was that, Naruto-kun?"

"A practice session for Totsuka-san could probably improve his own playing performance and his leadership skills." The blond elaborates his earlier concise suggestion. "It may not guarantee the latter, but at the very least, he'll be able to improve his performance. That way, members of his club might just take notice and ask for his suggestions."

"Hm, that is a rather interesting solution, Naruto-kun." Yukino follows up, looking pleased with the idea. "The leader must show exceptional abilities and skills in the field in order to be respected by the members."

"Hmm… I dunno, Yukinon…" the other students present in the room turn their heads to look at the pink haired girl. "I mean, Sai-chan's already an amazing tennis player, I don't see why the others wouldn't approach him for advice if they're serious enough."

"Then the only conclusion is the lack of motivation." Naruto says with a final edge in his tone. "If Totsuka-san is a good player like you said he is Yui, which I do not doubt, then yes; members are supposed to flock him for advice but only if they're serious enough."

His idea is then continued by the club president herself, who is in the same thought wavelength as the blonde foreigner. "Then that means the others aren't serious enough in their club, thus proving that lack of motivation is indeed the main cause." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We're just beating around the bush here, something I would've liked to avoid doing. But in any case, Totsuka-kun, it seems that the only suitable solution now is to follow Naruto-kun's suggestion of practicing to make yourself look good and competent in the eyes of your club members."

Delighted at the outcome of a decided solution, Saika nods happily. "Thank you, Yukinoshita-san, Yui and you too, Naruto-san!" for some reason, he only smiles when he's addressing the last person. This goes unnoticed by the members of the Service Club themselves.

* * *

 _A secured conversation  
Soubu High School third floor janitor's closet  
Date undisclosed_

"Speak."

" **Are you secured?"**

"…I told you, I'm no amateur."

" **Yeah, yeah… look, I'll cut to the chase."**

"…what?"

"… **your high school has been infiltrated."**

"…how?"

" **Some of our agents managed to fish out a lot of valuable information from blacklisted targets. I have to tell you, this is the accumulated result of years – even before my time – and years of info gathering and… dare I say it 'espionage' efforts. We have sorted and arranged everything as best as we could and so far, things are looking good."**

"…don't beat around the bush."

"… **right, was getting to that. Ahem, anyway, LeafCorp was more than aware of your presence in Japan. And as a matter of fact, you're late by several months, maybe even years, which means that they got a head start. Of course, we know this. Because of that tracking device you put on that guy, we managed to discover his real personal residence and send agents to sweep the place of any useful intel that they could gather."**

"And?"

"… **you're not going to like it. They know where you live, have been keeping constant lookouts for you for the past three months and are planning to take more steps than what they've already done now. In other words, you're as good as compromised."**

"…"

" **But don't worry. They don't know you know. It was cryptic as hell… but we managed to deduce that the guy that you put that tracking device on may actually be one of the people tasked by LeafCorp to spy on you."**

"Are you telling me that my being 'undercover' that time was useless?"

" **Well, not exactly. Of course he noticed you, but he didn't notice the tracker you placed on him. This can probably mean that he's not expecting you to be working together with us..."**

"Yet."

" **Exactly. Anyway, we're confident that your school's been infiltrated because of an e-mail message that we extracted from the person's PC. It says something about someone being out there… out for your blood."**

"…anything else?"

" **Look, dude, I wasn't kidding when I said they're being cryptic as hell. The whole fucking e-mail was a constant exchange of separate one lined mails. It was freaking troublesome to gather because this guy somehow managed to rearrange his mails in a random order. This whole damn thing is troublesome. If it helps you figure things out, the message tells something about a… Kestrel?** _ **Kesu-tre-ru**_ **?"**

"…"

" **Naruto, man, you there?"**

"I'm here. Sorry… I just saw something weird."

" **Hm?"**

"Nothing. Anyway, what else?"

" **Well… aside from the fact that you have someone out for your head in your school and the fact that our fight against LeafCorp is going to be harder and more troublesome than before… nothing else."**

"…tch."

" **We're all annoyed here man, but if it eases you a little bit, so far, we're confident that they won't do something drastic. And by drastic I mean sending in a Mobile Task Force to swat your house or anything similar to that. They're still new here and they're going to have to deal with Japan first before they could deal with you."**

"…you're telling me that an organization capable of spending millions of dollars is going to be slowed down by you Japanese's politicians with a hard on for money?"

" **Heh, that's exactly it. They'll have to deal with bigger fishes before they could catch a tadpole like you. And for the record, I do know that tadpoles aren't fish."**

"Whatever. Anyway, is that all?"

" **Yeah, man, this convo's long as hell. Troublesome. See ya."**

"Hn."

* * *

Discreetly stepping out of the empty janitor's closet, Naruto curses his luck. Looks like that luck of his is beginning to expire. He's a fool for taking things too easy, he should've known that someone's going to be after him. It's been two years, three counting his last involvement with LeafCorp, so it's only logical for past enemies to look for him. Whether LeafCorp sends them is another thing, in fact, he prefers it if that is the case. That way, he can get some questions out of the person they send after him. But judging from Shikamaru's intel, it's someone related to Kestrel.

Kestrel… was not a good memory, a nightmare more like. The mere act of thinking about the name renders his senses dull and numb, actually thinking about the events that transpired back then is even worse. Kestrel was his hell. No, not only his, it was hell to some people too, but he's the only one who made it out of that hell. It's a scar that will never heal and fade, damning him to death. No amount of therapy, time off or even a switch of lifestyle can make him forget what happened during Operation Songbird.

Operation Songbird was… a mistake. It's one of the reasons why he left LeafCorp.

The whole operation was sketchy from the get go, even then, he still had to carry it out despite the sinking feeling, despite knowing that things were strange. He was only fourteen back then, but age is not an excuse for his failure. LeafCorp was hunting for a top priority target on their hit list, given the codename Songbird – hence the name of the op – but finding the person was as easy as finding a drop of tear in the ocean. In other words, it's damn impossible.

Until someone tipped them off.

The intel had seemingly come out of nowhere, it might as well be, because the group that leaked it was never heard of previously. They called themselves Kestrel. A quick background check revealed that Kestrel was a small private security firm established and funded by a group of multiple organizations in Siberia. It was small, so it was really unexpected for LeafCorp to receive such an important intel from them. If anything, it's supposed to be impossible for them to get the kind of intel that they had. Probably luck or chance. Regardless of whatever divine works that happened that day, LeafCorp bought the intel and set out immediately.

It was not long until LeafCorp confirmed Songbird's presence. And he was all the way across the pond over in an unnamed settlement in Africa.

His team was sent to secure Songbird. Securing him is secondary to his death, so at that time, he wasn't going to take any chances. With how easy they got Songbird's location and after having confirmed said location, finishing the mission quickly was the only thing on Naruto's mind back then. Touchdown on AO, put a bullet between Songbird's eyes and Audi 5000 the hell out of there. That seemed simple enough and considering that they were equipped with the gear and intel, it wasn't wrong to think like that.

But how wrong he was.

When they reached Songbird's location, they were only greeted with little resistance. But Songbird was not there. It was as if they were short, Italian plumbers going into a castle looking for a princess – not to save – but to kill, but the only similarity between that world and them back then, there was no talking mushroom to tell him that their target was in another castle. Naruto realized that things were wrong and that he was right. It wasn't going to be an easy job and he was right.

He tried calling in for evac as soon as they confirmed Songbird's lack of presence within the area, but the whole place had their comms jammed. It was a setup done by Kestrel. Explosions went off both inside and outside, the worst thing was, it wasn't done by C-4s or any remote explosive devices. It was full blown artillery fire, volleyed over their coordinates with no intentions of ceasing. The location they were in was a small compound in a very remote settlement, it took no more than minutes until everything was flat rubble on the ground.

He lost consciousness when an artillery shell near-missed him, though it did send his body flying a couple feet back. The next thing he knew, he was awake inside a dark room, head covered in sack cloth with his clothing and gear stripped off from him. Not necessarily naked, but vulnerable. Then they showed up. Kestrel. Several men questioned him in Russian regarding LeafCorp. They wanted to know everything. Secret facilities, infrastructure, procedures… you name it.

He was not being very cooperative with them, so they made him talk. At least they tried to.

He remembered… pain. Lots of pain. The pain from being cut, stabbed, burned and beaten. But he held off… barely. He couldn't keep count of how many hours have passed back then, it could've been days for all he knew. Then, when they stopped giving him beatings physically, they decided to mess with his mental state. They took off his sack and they brought in four men which he knew very well. Then… they told him to answer everything or else those men will die right before his eyes.

He… could vividly remember the expression on their faces.

Pain. Fear. Hurt. And… bitter acceptance.

They knew that they couldn't compromise. He knew that he couldn't compromise. Whether it was the pain, mental fatigue or the substances they injected him with… he didn't know… but what he did know is that he's responsible for the death of his four men.

They murdered him. Their daggers swiftly cut through the skin and bones of their throat as if they were poultry products, blood flowed like silk and their faces as they rot away on the cold hard ground had been etched into the deepest part of his memory.

After the deed was done… they beat him again, this time even harsher. They doubled the pain and dosage of substances that they injected into him. It came to a point where he could no longer tell if he was awake or dead. A minute there was like hours, hours became days and days became weeks. A long time had passed ever since his initial capture yet he did not have the strength to fight back, he couldn't.

Then… everything came to a halt.

In the midst of a questioning session, the place he was in shook. Alarms were raised and people began panicking. His mental state was all fucked up. He couldn't tell from left to right, soldiers and civilians, but that had not been a problem for him. His body regained strength, as if he had been possessed by a demon straight out of hell. He fought back, killing everyone in the room with him. He set out on a warpath, making body counts and kills on each hallway he walked through. This day, the experience was lost to him. It's as if he wasn't the one killing those people on his way out of there.

When he was sure that he'd killed everyone inside that hell hole… he went top side, encountering multiple LeafCorp operatives in full combat gear. His mind was not able to register them as friend… he fired at them. Thankfully, casualties were minimal on their side and his master – who was there at that time – managed to subdue him.

Waking up… he was strapped to a bed inside one of LeafCorp's medical facilities at the main HQ. They barely saved him. The doctors did not know why… his master did not know why… he, himself, did not know why…

…why he was still alive after the hellish experience Kestrel put him through.

Dumb luck… is all he'll say.

"…oi… Oi!"

Blue eyes flicker over to the owner of the irritated voice. His head snaps instantly, eyes glued to the person standing on his back. The movement is so quick and sudden that even the person who's been calling out to him is surprised herself.

"Y'er on the way. Move."

Naruto blinks several times, reminding himself that he's no longer stuck inside a dark room with power tools stuck to his limbs. This jet-lagged state of his seems to only increase the level of annoyance that the girl is feeling.

"What, ya' deaf? I said y'er in the way, move."

After the second time, he is finally able to register what is happening. He steps aside, drawing a path for the girl to walk through, muttering a small 'sorry' before walking away towards the direction of his classroom. He walks away, but even without looking back, he knows that he's being observed.

And he doesn't like it.

* * *

"So, we have decided to help Totsuka-kun with his tennis skills, yes?"

He'll say it now: he doesn't play tennis often.

"Yup! I'm not a very good tennis player though, Yukinon, so I'll just do whatever you want me to do!"

Unfortunately, he cannot let that happen to him. He'll have his own role to fill and a very hard time keeping an eye out for the nemesis that has infiltrated this school. However, he's sure that his foe would not dare do something out here in the open on broad daylight without fearing repercussions of any sort, which is why he's also using this moment as a chance to observe for any suspicious activities around him.

"Hahaha, I thank you guys for doing this for me." Saika says with a sincere smile while holding on to his tennis racket. His short and dangerously feminine form looks natural in the attire he's currently wearing. A combination of green shirt and a pair of matching green shorts, with a pair of white trainers to finish his looks, he already has the tennis player part perfected. Now all that matters is the leading part… but it's not something that they can exactly help with.

Taking his eyes off his surroundings, the blonde haired foreigner eyes the tennis net and over all equipment that they have prepared for Saika's training session. The court's condition is what one would expect from an ordinary school standardized tennis court. The outlines of the court have been marked and painted perfectly according to standard measurements, the tennis net has been adjusted to its normal and usual height and the field itself, though dull, is in proper playing condition. Really, the only things that barely make this place shabby-looking are the dents on the metal fences that surround the court and scratches on the green floor paint. But those are normal when it comes to a frequently used tennis court.

The tennis court also comes with a changing room nearby, placed just outside of the court. They placed their things there earlier and Saika has locked the door to prevent any unwanted mishaps. Right now, the members of the Service Club and Saika himself are the only ones on the field.

"Fumu, fumu! Tis a fine morning if I have to say so myself!"

…well, they're not the only ones.

Ignoring the additional cast that has, for some reason, decided to join them for today's practice, the Service Club's president is standing on the field with her hair tied to a ponytail. Unlike her black haired friend, Yui does not have to bother restyling her hair into a similar style. Naruto, however, is still wondering whether or not it'll be a good idea to skip self-study session in favor of club activities. Meh, he'll deal with that later, it's not like his scores are dropping or anything.

"So, how are we gonna do this, Yukinon?" like a child who's never been to Disney Land and is told by her mother that they're going to go there, Yui seems to be the most excited one of the bunch.

"Hm, that is indeed a very good question, Yuigahama-san." Despite the simplicity, the question asked by her pink haired school mate still raises some points. With a swift turn of her heel, the black haired girl directs her attention to the tennis captain himself. "What do you usually do for practice, Totsuka-kun?"

"I usually do shadow practice."

"Shad…ow practice?" it seems that Yui is unfamiliar with the term. Unsurprisingly.

"Basically, it's a way to do warm ups by practicing strikes or swings." Naruto is the one who supplies her with the helpful trivia. "This is not only seen in tennis players, because the term applies to other sports as well. Baseball, badminton, boxing and even penmanship." He shrugs.

"Eeeh… you play tennis often, Naruto?" asks the pink haired girl, eyes filled to the brim with curiosity.

The blonde shrugs casually. "Not really. I've played one or two match in the past, but nothing that will guarantee perfect performance." He's not going to lie, even if he does lie, they'll find out about it and he'll be busted.

"Perfection is not our goal here." the voice of the Service Club's club president cuts through the air like a lull in the wind, converting all attention towards her. "Our main objective is to help Totsuka-kun improve in his tennis performance. I think, since we're delving into a territory of self-improvement, we should ask Totsuka-kun about his weaknesses first."

"Eh, me?"

Yukino nods her head; her calm look is borderline stoic, like a certain blonde's. "Indeed. As I've said before, this is a request that heavily hints self-improvement at its core. What better way to solve a problem than to look for the cause itself? So, Totsuka-kun, is there anything that you're weak at in tennis?"

"W-Well…"

If this is some sort of sports themed, B-rated motivational movie with an underdog protagonist who has Morgan Freeman giving him motivational speeches whilst he's training to be the world's best boxer, the uplifting music would've played and the scene would have showcased said protagonist's training progress while doing fade-outs between scenes. Sadly, this is not a sports themed, B-rated motivational movie with an underdog protagonist who has Morgan Freeman giving him motivational speeches whilst he's training to be the world's best… tennis player, in Saika's case. And there's definitely no uplifting music playing through the scene showcasing Saika's training progress while doing fade-outs in between the scenes.

It took some effort, both from their side and Saika's, but improvements are getting easier to see. As it turns out, Yukino is rather acquainted with tennis. She managed to last three consecutive rounds playing against Saika and even came close to beating him, if it wasn't for the fact that she has a rather weak stamina. Yui, as she had said so herself, didn't prove to be very prominent in tennis; the best act she pulled was when she did a very powerful swing that hit Zaimokuza right on his tubby stomach. The ball, thankfully, did not suffer any damage. While Naruto, on the other hand, did not get to have an official match with Saika, but instead help him when it comes to aerobics and cardio.

It's no professional training regime, but sometimes, the most basic of things give the best result. Huge results start from small beginnings, and that's the case with most athletes out there. They start from the bottom, when their names were nothing more than just another plaque in the neighborhood. Then, when it's their turn to shine on the field, they shine bright. So bright that they achieved the recognition and reward that they rightfully deserve. They work with what they had and used those things to the fullest. The equipment, place and exercises they worked with were not fancy or specialized in any way, but still, they used them to their fullest.

As the Service Club's esteemed club president have said it…

They've done a rather 'satisfactory' job.

Yeah right.

* * *

"Thanks for the hard work."

Naruto isn't expecting Saika to press the cold, metallic can of energy drink on his right cheek. But regardless of what's been done, his reaction to it is minimal. Outwardly, he turns his head to the boy in a calm and unenthusiastic manner, grabbing the cold drink. Inwardly, however, a memory from back then plays; it shows Naruto barely dodging a stab that is aimed for his neck before twisting the perpetrator's hand, bending it, dislocating the hand and then shooting the perp on the temple with his pistol. His mind, thankfully, is still capable of telling which one's reality and which one's memory. If it can't… then, let's just say that he won't be able to go to school here again.

"Hope you don't mind pocari, it's what I got for myself, see?" Saika chuckles as he shakes his own can of energy drink.

The blonde shakes his head, standing up from the low indoor bench that he's been sitting on for the past twenty minutes or so. The locker room has minimal light seeping into it, thanks to the almost non-existent presence of windows and the darkening sky outside. The stench of their sweat and odor fills the room, but nothing that some outside air won't clear. Naruto has switched to a fresh t-shirt and his school pants. He can't be bothered to wear the school issued shirt, but as long as he wears his blazer over his t-shirt, it'll be fine. As for his pants, he put on the normal school slacks.

"We really did a lot today huh?" Saika says after taking small sips from his drink. "The same goes for yesterday, in fact, I think we've been doing a whole lot this past week."

A week, huh? So they've been helping Saika for that long, huh? "True." The blonde quietly comments, but not before taking a sip from his drink too. "I believe that the progress we've made are... significant?"

Naruto does not receive an immediate reply. Instead, it is delayed. It seems that Saika has spaced out for a while, it takes the boy a few seconds to realize that he has yet to answer the blonde.

"Oh, yeah, I feel like I can take on the top aces at the nationals!" the shorter boy replies cheerily. He swings his slender arms back and forth, displaying a fervent act. "In fact, I've never felt this good before!"

"...I see." a thin, hollow smile appears briefly upon the blonde's face. "It's nice to hear that we're all benefiting from this exercise."

"Yup."

Uncomfortable silence reigns through the locker room, making the already sweat damp and polluted air all the more unbearable for the two males. Saika, despite the air, is still as friendly as ever. The blonde ex-PMC, however, does not share the same persona.

He is feeling uneasy, almost as if he's being exposed to the open wintry air of Siberia. Looking at the small clock posted above the door, it seems that he's been staying here longer than he intends to. Sighing, Naruto glance sideways, giving the shorter boy a brief look.

Sensing Naruto's eyes on him, Saika cutely tilts his head sideways, wide doe-like eyes blinking innocently.

"What's wrong?"

"...nothing." The blonde shakes his head, bending down to pick up his sports bag. "...I just know I'm gonna regret this."

"Hm?"

Imagine a bird hitting you right on the face with one of its wings. That's something that doesn't happen everyday, if not at all. So, to emulate that unpredictable analogy, Naruto swings the sports bag upwards, nearly hitting the silver haired prince of tennis on his pretty little face.

Clue word: nearly.

"N-Naruto, w-what are you doing?!" Saika shouts in outrage, his posture showing meek defense. Through glassy blue eyes, tears threatened to escape.

The bag that he's used as a preemptive weapon is now on the other end of the narrow locker room, its content spilling, littering the floor with sweaty gym clothes and shorts. Without the slightest hint of feeling sorry for nearly harming the precious boy, Naruto's cold eyes bore through Saika's very being.

Their drinks are spilled, drenching the floor with sports water and leaving a mess for the janitor or whoever is in charge of cleaning. But the mess made isn't in his mind, what's in Naruto's mind, however, is the true identity of the boy in front of him.

"N-Naruto, you're scaring me, q-quit it!"

But no response. The silver haired boy cowers in absolute fear of the taller and more imposing boy looming over him with eyes colder than steel that has been buried under a pit of snow. His thin, slender shoulders are quivering; as if he's been hit by a blast of cold winter air. But there is no air, much less snow.

Saika is sweating, even more than before when he's doing sports. And this is not the type of sweat one would normally released when exhausted, this is the type of sweat that people will only release when they're scared.

A cold sweat.

"P-Please... you're scaring me... Naruto..." the whimper is barely heard. The boy cowers, drooping his head down, hands clutched close to his hands. "P-Please... please... please..."

Naruto's fingers twitch, eyes are flickering.

"...please... please..."

Then, the Prince of Deceit reveals his true nature.

"PLEASE DIE!"

With a box cutter gripped tightly in his tennis playing hand, Saika is out for the kill.

* * *

"Sir, here are the results you requested earlier."

"Thank you, Suzuki." he pauses. "And don't call me sir, you're older than me, man."

Suzuki grins playfully, barely capable of holding back chuckles, before retreating back to his station.

In an undisclosed location, acting as Parabellum's main HQ, one Nara Shikamaru is sitting on his own command station with multiple files, folders and many other form of physical documents scattered all over his supposedly clean and tidy work space. Right now, his work space is a mess thanks to his annoying paranoia and curious nature of wanting to know more about a certain blonde haired enigma who's forced to worked with them.

"Kestrel... Kestrel..."

He asked the boys from Intel to do a thorough search, meaning he asked them to search everything they have – or had – about this 'Kestrel' entity. Opening the files that Suzuki has delivered him, he resumes his search of the unknown – at least to him – entity. Looking at the date of the files, they seem to be dating back to the early 2000's, meaning waaay before his time in Parabellum. If he remembered correctly, the acting Head Handler back then was a retired Parabellum agent who no longer wants any ties to the underworld.

Thanks to the endless amount of liquid caffeine he has consumed earlier, Shikamaru manages to skim – but carefully – through many excerpts without missing details. What he's reading is very surprising to him. Looks like there are still things that he, and Parabellum, still has no clue about.

"Holy..."

Kestrel... no survivors... captured LeafCorp operatives... tortured... one survived... ANBU invasion of Kestrel facility...

What he's read can be considered a scarier and quicker plot of a Tom Clancy's novel.

After reading enough to sate his curiosity, Shikamaru drops the file on the table, leaving it to join the other mess he's created. Slumping back into the chair, the young handler lets out a very long and tired groan. His eyes are heavy, even if it's still quite early to be sleeping, but in his defense, all of that reading and information processing is taking a toll on his brain.

"What kind of beast are we working with?"

The young handler can only wonder.

* * *

They say that center mass is everything in a gun fight. Following that rule, if center mass in everything, then there is no need to attack or hit other body parts such as the limbs, head or even groin. Yes, center mass is important, but it is not everything.

People have designed a lot of countermeasures to combat this. Bullet proof vests are made to prevent shots mostly aimed at a target's body, the so called center mass is now a not so likely option if a shooter's looking to score a clean hit. This means that the shooter will have to hit, provided if the bullet caliber is not large enough to punch through armor, other parts of the body.

A well aimed shot at a target's center mass may put him down on the ground with one shot, especially when the bullet used is big enough, but when it comes to CQC, you can forget center mass and kiss it goodbye.

Naruto has learned, through years of ruthless mentoring from his master, that every part of a person's body is a potential weak spot. Ignoring obvious locations, the kind of mental drill that his mentor was trying to induct into him is that all people will break if you hit them at the right spot, with the right amount of force and with the right amount time.

At the same time, for Saika, he has been trained that every part of a person's body is a potential weapon that can be used to cripple the opposing enemy. This means using every single body part in a way that it has never meant to be used before, be it as silly or outrageous as it is. Using his forehead to deliver a brain scrambling headbutt, using his legs to choke an opponent into submission or something as simple as biting an opponent with his teeth.

Currently, the two of them are using whatever training regime and knowledge that they have accumulated in their brain to fight the other.

In a close quarter engagement inside a narrow as fuck locker room.

Metal lockers are visibly dented, there are fist marks on the wall, scraping off the thin paint coating off the concrete. Multiple tiles are cracked and in dire need of replacing, one of the bench has is broken with one of its limbs broken off. Yet, amazingly, not a single drop of blood has been spilled from the two males. But make no mistakes, damages were done.

In terms of hand to hand combat, he is slower than Saika. Saika moves more fluidly, quickly and is capable of dodging more agilely. This contributes to the fact that the shorter boy has less bruises than the blonde, but that's like saying a tiger has more stripes than a leopard has spots.

Being taller and just bigger built than Saika, Naruto is able to deliver more damage. He can withstand the burnt of Saika's blows to a certain degree and counter more effectively. Every attacks he delivered is fatal, prompting the shorter boy to increase his effort on dodging them.

But when fights get balanced like this... in the end, it's a matter of stamina.

And in this fight, Naruto is winning.

Unlike Saika, who is panting and breathing heavily, Naruto is more composed and retained in terms of exhaustion. Just by a glance, it's obvious who's going to get overwhelmed.

Unsurprisingly, Saika make uses of grapples and kicks to deliver damage. They hurt like hell.

The silver haired boy side steps, catching the blonde off guard. But after the short minutes they've exchanged blows, Naruto has come to grasp his opponent's fighting patterns.

The shorter boy leaps off, performing a feint. He twists his body in mid air, right foot extended to deliver a terrifying roundhouse kick. Unfortunately, it is dodged by the blonde. But Saika is smart enough to follow up with another kick, this time it hits Naruto, but is blocked at the last second.

'Okay, that hurt.' the blonde dashes forward, cracking the tile underneath him. He closes the cramped distance in a matter of milliseconds, appearing before Saika in his tall glory.

Lunging back, the silver haired boy avoids the blonde. But he hits a locker, crashing to it on his back. Wincing, the prince closes his eyes as he braces for impact.

And, yeah, it's exactly as painful as he expects it to be.

Naruto plants his fist right into the boy's solar plexus. Hard enough to cause the shorter boy to choke, vomiting out saliva. It doesn't stop there though. His right hand goes for Saika's neck, gripping it, pressing him against the cold and now dented metal locker. He applies pressure on his choke, causing the shorter boy to squirm.

Naruto watches with narrow eyes as the boy squirms and struggles under his choke, attempting to break free. But, as expected, Saika has no energy left to make that a reality. His eyes are leaking tears, and one can tell that he's losing air from the discoloration of his face. Seeing that he has had enough, Naruto pulls him roughly by the neck, sending Saika crashing to the floor.

"Uguh...! Hack... hah... uuurgh...!" the silver haired tennis player attempts to stand up, but finds his legs to be weak. The lack of oxygen in his lungs does not help. "...Gurgk!"

"Who sent you?"

Saika's legs are no longer touching the floor. A pair of strong arms are lifting him up in the air by the collar of his tracksuit, showing no signs of letting go even after scratching them with his nails. Frustrated at the lack of answer, the blonde slams the other boy's back to the locker, causing it to rattle, and probably even the boy's spine itself.

"Who. Sent. You?"

Saika, in his dazed state, struggles to look at the blonde. But he still has enough strength to smile in spite.

[Go to hell.] He spits on the taller boy's face after speaking in Russian. This causes the hold on his collar to become even tighter, adding more pain to the injured tennis player.

[You want to speak like that? I can do it too.] If glares could kill, Saika would have been dead three times by now. [Who sent you? Last chance.]

Instead of an immediate answer, a shrill of broken laughter breaks out of the silver haired boy's mouth. Even in his bruised state, Saika's smile shows no sign of disappearing. However, the look of playful spite transforms into righteous fury and anger.

[I've been hunting you myself... **Красный**...] the boy gasps out. [For what... you've... done to my people... and... father...] Saika's glare rivals Naruto's own. [I... swear... that I'll... kill you...]

Naruto clicks his teeth. "Kestrel..."

"Yes... Kestrel..." Saika says back in Japanese. "...my father's pride... our family's... everything... you took it away from us... from me..." a growl escapes his now bloody mouth. "I'll... kill you..."

"Do you even know what happened back then, huh?"

"...does not matter... you killed them all... and you will pay..."

"You killed our men too." his voice is on a borderline. He almost lashed out. " _My_ men."

"...so what..." Saika coughs out. "...I won't rest... until you're dead..."

Naruto sighs. This is getting nowhere. Releasing one fist from his hold on the boy, he cocks it back before delivering it back again to the shorter boy's stomach. This time, instead of gagging like earlier, Saika faints. Out cold. Seeing the damage done, Naruto lay the now unconscious assassin on the only intact bench inside the room. Retrieving the bag which he threw earlier to the other side of the room, he pulls out his phone.

As soon as he unlocks the screen, he dials a number.

 **"Hello? Naruto, man, listen-"**

"Don't..." the blonde starts, sighing out loudly. "...I know."

 **"...Oh. I see... so, uh, is he taken care of?"**

"Yes." Naruto replies, his eyes glancing at the unconscious boy in a brief second.

 **"Do you need a cleaner for the body?"**

"No need. He's still alive."

 **"I see. That's good."** on the other end of the line, it's very clear that Shikamaru is relieved. **"We'll send in some guys to pick you and your... _classmate_ up to our headquarters, don't worry, we'll be discrete."**

"Thank you." Shikamaru will have to excuse him for being tired. "And are you sure you'll bring me or us for that matter to your HQ?"

 **"Yeah, the higher ups here kinda want to meet and talk to you."**

"Hm. Fine."

 **"Good. They'll be there in ten."**

The line is closed and Naruto pockets his phone into his wrinkled pants' pocket. Looking around, there's no way he'll escape suspicion for the damage caused here. His eyes land on his supposedly assassin. Without hesitation, he says,

"Okay, time to tie him up."

* * *

 **First: I know, I suck at writing fight scenes.**

 **Second: Looks like I'll be focusing more on Immortal than this for the next few weeks. So, sorry to those of you who are only following me for this story. But don't worry, I have a lot of plans for this baby.**

 **Now, personally, I kinda dislike this chapter. Why? It feels like I've revealed too much in just one single chapter. It sucks. I suck.**

 **Well, anyway, that's that. I promise that chapter quality will improve in the future. And, please, do expect more cliffhangers from now on.**


	6. With Friends Like These

"Is this really necessary?"

"I'm afraid so. We can't let you figure out the whereabouts of our headquarters just yet."

It was useless anyway.

Currently blindfolded, Naruto was in the middle of a transport trip from his school to Parabellum's headquarters. The driver had to blindfold him to prevent him from getting their headquarters' whereabouts, but that was a useless attempt. By closing his eyes, his vision, his auditory senses had sharpened. He could hear the outside commotion, things like construction sounds, sense the number of stops that they had to take, what type of shops they past, so on and so forth.

 _'...speed no more than forty kilometers per hour... a right turn... slowing down on a red light... halt.'_

But, he was in a much better condition than his fellow student, he supposed.

 _'Left turn... thirty degree climb suggests highway entry... car speed increasing to fifty confirms it...'_

Saika was still out cold. He felt no movement nor did he hear any sound coming from the bound, blindfolded and gagged teen occupying the entire seat behind him. Riding shotgun also helped with sensing things because he was sitting closer to the driver. He could also feel the amount of sunlight even clearer by sitting in front, that helped him pinpoint in which particular direction the car was heading to.

So, yes, the blindfold was pretty much useless at this point.

"May I ask you a question?"

The driver raised an eyebrow. The blonde had been quiet so far, why was he asking questions now?

"What is it?" asked the driver, with his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

"What will you do to him?" His head gave a slight nudge, referring to the boy bound, gagged and blindfolded in the back.

"We'll secure him and place him under surveillance... at least that's what you're allowed to know."

Naruto did not say anything else, opting to keep his mouth shut again.

 _'The sun is setting... we're heading west... approaching a halt at a toll checkpoint... driver picks up money... several five hundred yen coins... driving resumes... speed at seventy kilometers per hour...'_

Ten minutes of driving later, the car came to a halt. The sound of seat belts being unbuckled and the handbrake being raised indicated that they were about to leave. Judging from the lack of sunlight, Naruto deduced that they were inside a building of some sort and from all of the sense navigation he did, they had to be somewhere west, meaning near the sea.

"I'm going to have to put an ear muffler on you." Naruto heard the driver said to him.

"Are you guys really that paranoid?"

"Hey, you can't blame us."

In response to that, Naruto let out a quick snort of bemusement.

The driver rigged the ear mufflers on his person, disabling his sense of hearing. He couldn't see nor hear, but at least they didn't handcuff him or anything like that. He felt a tug at his sleeve, Naruto took it as a sign to follow whoever had just tugged his sleeve. The person kept a hold of his sleeve, taking him on a walk that required exactly fifty steps forward, before ascending a short flight of stairs. Whoever was leading him stopped moving, and it was then when he felt the floor moving.

 _'An elevator... going downstairs... underground?'_ He did not feel the car going up a ramp or whatever earlier, so maybe they were taking him somewhere below ground.

He hoped that they managed to secure Saika properly, it'd be very troublesome if he were to wake up and cause chaos in a narrow place like this.

After exactly a minute of waiting, the descent stopped. Naruto felt vibration coursing through the elevator's flooring, he took it as a sign that they had reached their desired floor. He felt the tugging on his sleeve again, this time taking an immediate left as soon as they stepped out of the elevator.

 _'No drafts... in a hallway? Explains the narrowness I'm feeling with the walls and ceiling so close... my shoes aren't impacting the floors that hard, carpets?'_

It was then when the blonde's olfactory organ decided to kick in, picking up an ever familiar scent.

 _'Coffee... sharp, strong... instant... we must be entering an office.'_ Or he was about to meet more of Parabellum's G-men.

 _'Taking a right... hallway was ten meters long, carpeted, with narrow space... it must be a main hall that connects the entire floor, so the exit has got to be somewhere at the end of the hall.'_

The blonde was halted suddenly, then he felt a draft of cold air hitting his legs. _'Air conditioner... we've arrived.'_ Like he deduced, the not so subtle shutting down of door vibrated from behind him. The tugging ceased, and slowly, the obstructions were removed from his person.

The first thing he noticed was the number of people in the room, more particularly, the lack of people present. There was only four people in the room including him. Him, Saika who was now secured on a metal chair, the driver from earlier who had to bring both him and Saika here, and a big tittied blonde haired lady sitting on a chair with her hands propped on an aluminum table with a fresh mug of coffee and documents in front of her.

Though his facade remained as unreadable as ever, inwardly, he winced.

This was an interrogation scene from your typical spy movie if he had ever seen one! The only difference here was that there's a boy bound and gagged sitting on the other chair!

The woman, who had been occupied with the papers in front of her, finally turned her eyes towards him. "So you're the kid, huh? The real life Jason Bourne?" She asked with obvious sarcasm dripping from her very tone.

Naruto would have laughed if he found her joke funny. Sadly, it wasn't.

"Huh... looks like Shikamaru's reports weren't kidding, you do have the social capabilities of a rock."

Naruto's shoulder twitched.

The woman let out a long and exaggerated sigh, stretching her arms upwards, putting further emphasize on her mammaries. "You know, when they said that the infamous Hatake Kakashi took on a protege, I was expecting someone... older."

She sounded legit disappointed, but it was actually more than that. "But it just had to be a high school fuck boy like those retarded shounen manga that my little brother used to read, huh?" Sighing again, this time, she took on a more regretful expression. "Why must the world be so fucked up?"

"Ahem." The driver of the car that escorted Naruto and Saika coughed to his fist, getting everyone's – sans Saika's – attention on him. "Ma'am, if you would?"

"Right, right." The lady waved the driver off with a rude gesture of her hand. Her eyes found themselves staring at Naruto once again, only this time, she was properly staring at him. "Naruto, no last name, and student of the infamous – currently assumed to be – ex-Leafcorp operative, Hatake Kakashi."

Her tone took on an amused turn, where it was just pure disappointment before. "I have to hand it to you, kid. Leafcorp don't usually make them as quick and as young as you are... you must be their newest record or something."

Again, he twitched, it was his hands this time.

"Last time, Kakashi was the youngest... before him was that blonde pretty boy, gosh, what's with you guys and breeding dangerous killers, huh?"

The fact that she went silent made Naruto think that she was actually waiting for him to answer her. So, he did.

"...killers? More like janitors to me."

The woman blinked. She did not expect that the... rock in front of her could show and exhibit any form of humor, much less a sarcastic one at that. "Oh, care to elaborate that simile for me?"

"We work hard cleaning up whatever mess that you white collars make whenever you're done with your business transactions regardless of where it is. Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Serbia, Chechnya..." he let his voice trail off.

A dry chuckle escaped the woman's lips. She smiled at him, but it was anything but kind.

"Oh, so you can be funny after all. So, tell me, why are you here and not out there 'cleaning' the 'mess' that we've made, huh?" It was an obvious challenge.

And obviously, Naruto was going to take it.

"Name one janitor that _actually_ loves his job." He deadpans. "I'll wait."

Silence.

…

…

…

"...touche."

The lady massaged her neck, temples and eyes exactly in that order. "Welcome to Parabellum, kid. Hope you didn't mind the blindfold and ear muffler that we had to put on you. Take a seat."

Naruto stepped forward, using his leg to drag a metallic folding chair that was propped to the table in front him. After unfolding the chair, he placed it next to Saika. The driver took his post near the door, guarding one of the four exit point in the room.

"I've had worse." Naruto rolled his shoulders, dismissing her halfhearted apologies off.

"Hmph, can't call you out on that."

Three brown paper files were slid towards him from the woman seated across of him.

"The one on the left contains everything that we know about you. Things like your habitual pattern, known associates, places you've visited... you know, those kind'a stuffs..." She waved her hand around. "The one in the middle is everything that we managed to compile about your friend over there." She gestured to Saika with a nudge of head. "Wow, you really fucked him up real good if he's still out cold, didn't you?"

Naruto was already opening the first file, his foggy blue eyes scanning through the contents.

"The last one is your next assignment."

At the word 'assignment', Naruto stopped his reading to look at the woman in front of him.

Recognizing the look that the boy was giving her, the well endowed lady raised a hand as if to defend herself. "I'm gonna brief you directly, so keep the questions after I'm done speaking. They at least taught you discipline over there, didn't they?"

Naruto's unchanging stare and stone-like facade were her only answers, prompting her to sigh.

"Open it and I'll brief you as you analyze the file."

Exchanging the first file for the last one, Naruto opened the file just as the woman was about to speak.

 **Parabellum Mission Briefing**

"I am sure that Shikamaru had already mentioned the thing regarding the Yukinoshita's?"

"Briefly, but, yes."

"Good, this should be easier. Simply said, Leafcorp had been offering the Yukinoshita Conglomerate ridiculously tempting deals to help them build their foundation here in Japan."

"...in the literal sense?"

"Possibly, they do excel in building and shipping after all. Anyway, we cannot let that happen. If LeafCorp is to be given a chance on setting up more businesses in the country, it'll be even harder for us to touch them. As of now, they have been doing nothing but raking income from the contracts they have with their business partners."

"How important is the Yukinoshita's in all of this?" asked the blonde teen.

"You kidding me? Kid, don't you ever, you know, go outside?" The woman was blinking, thinking that he was some sort of hikkikomori.

"...are you insulting me?" A glare.

"...no, of course not. You are wanted by LeafCorp after all... but in any case, the Yukinoshita's are responsible for most of the major building projects in Japan, mostly here in Tokyo Prefecture. In addition to that, they also own a number of shipping vessels that are responsible for twenty percent of the international shipping processes that goes from and into Japan."

"...so they're rich." was the simple conclusion drawn by the whiskered teen.

"That's an understatement, but yes, they are. Ahem, anyway, we've gathered that LeafCorp's last contact with them was with the Yukinoshita matriarch, Yukinoshita Yukine."

"And what of it?"

"As far as we're concerned, they could have struck a deal of some sort without us knowing. Our intel is very limited, we can't do more without doing anything drastic."

"So, how do I fit in all of this?"

"Your assignment is to find out more about this probable deal that they may have struck. Find out anything, even the smallest details would help. Due to the nature of this assignment, we're expecting it to last for the long term, meaning that there's no real deadline until we find out more about the deal itself."

"...you want me to use Yukinoshita Yukino." a glare.

"What, is she your girlfriend or something?"

"...no, but I would very much appreciate not dragging someone from my school into our business." The blonde teen nudged his head, referring the silver haired boy, who was still out cold, bound and unmoving beside him. "The shock of finding out that one of them was a vengeful assassin out for my blood is still effecting me, you see."

A snort. "Yeah, right. Says the guy who knocked the boy out to the point of extreme unconsciousness and then bound the kid using bondage techniques that I'm sure even Anko doesn't know of."

"What can I say, my master is one of a kind."

"Ass." The lady coughed. "Anyway, I realized I haven't introduced myself..."

 **Mission Briefing End**

"...I am Senju Tsunade, the Head Director of Parabellum. It's a pleasure to work with you, Naruto."

Unfortunately for Tsunade, the pleasure was not shared.

* * *

"Come with me, we're going to introduce you to some of the crew."

"And are you sure that's wise?"

The driver had been instructed earlier by Tsunade to transport Saika to another place, probably to administer treatment so that they could wake him up and cough out answers from him. Naruto was having mixed feelings about letting Saika off his watch. Saika was still a student in his school and one of his known associates within his circle of acquaintances.

If he were to end up missing by tomorrow, it would certainly raise some questions.

"Hey, we're trying to even things out with you here." Tsunade grumbled. "Since you've been cooperating with us these past few days, we figured that letting you in on some of our secrets would be enough compensation for the time being."

"...you're pretty dumb aren't you, lady?"

Tsunade stopped dead on her tracks.

"What. Did. You. Say?"

Even if she was leaking an aura that would make even the Duke of Hell piss his pants, Naruto maintained his deadpan expression quite well. With arms crossed and standing only a few feet away from the woman, he elaborated what he meant.

"You're about to introduce me to your associates, whom I won't have any problems tracking down and you're doing all of this in the name of fairness?"

A lose vein pulsated on Tsunade's forehead, her fists clenching and shaking. "Listen here kid, you should be thankful that we even allowed you to be here in the first place. Not to mention, those files I gave you." She snorted, turning her body to face the taller boy. "What makes you think that we're at a disadvantage here, huh? You are the one inside our turf all defenseless after all."

Naruto blinked. "Oh? Defenseless?" He sighed. "You really don't know anything about master Kakashi, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

Instead of giving her answer, the male blonde merely shrugged. "I don't know, what do you think?"

Sucking in her fury, Tsunade was thiiiiis close from becoming the next Mount Krakatoa.

"...just... follow me."

The whiskered blonde shrugged.

After their short banter, the two blondes resumed their walk, with Tsunade doing the leading. Naruto was about five steps behind her, a suitable distance in situations like this one where he was in a potentially hostile environment. Parabellum may have warned him about Saika's presence... but they had not really done anything to help him get what he wanted, which was information regarding Kakashi.

Five steps were more than enough for him to either run back to the exit or jump forward and snap Tsunade's neck in case they decided to pull a fast one on him.

But he was hoping that things would not have to come to that.

"Alright, everyone's inside. Get in." The woman dressed in the business suit inclined her head slightly, motioning towards the door in front of them.

The sign read 'Meeting Room'.

 _'How appropriate.'_

Entering the room first, Tsunade closed the door behind them. Naruto did not hear any suspicious clicking noises that might have suggested the door being locked or anything like that, but he could never be too sure.

As far as aesthetics go, the room was normal. Lights, one long table, chairs surrounding the long table, a screen projector fixed to the ceiling pointing towards an empty white wall and a water dispenser at the corner of the room. It reminded him of the lounge rooms back in LeafCorp, except tidier.

"So he's the kid, Tsunade?"

The woman walked towards the table, finding herself at the edge of the table, before taking her place on the seat. "He is. Deceptive, isn't he?"

The same man as before snorted in amusement. "No shit, thought he'd be older."

Naruto made sure to burn the image of this man in his memories. White hair, sleazy grin, kabuki-like make ups...

"And he's Kakashi's protege? Damn, I gotta read his track record after this meeting's over."

"You wouldn't want to do that, Jiraiya-san. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to enjoy those spy movies that you love so much anymore after seeing what he could do."

Shikamaru was also present, looking as sleepy as ever. Unlike everyone else, he was dressed in a rather casual attire. Collared black shirt with a pair of khakis.

"Ohoho... he's that good, eh?"

"Alright, enough, all of you."

After memorizing the faces of those present in the room, sans his own, Naruto turned to Tsunade, who had silenced everyone. There were a total of six individuals in this room, not including him, and so far, the only one he had recognized was only Shikamaru.

"We're here for introductions, so cut the questions for later." She turned to the sleazy looking white haired man. "Jiraiya, why don't you go and start, since you're so eager to talk?"

The man hummed in pride of being able to do the introduction first. Striking a pose that he must have thought was 'cool' – he was raising his nose up in the air while loosening the sleeves of his shirt – he began his introduction.

"My name is Jiraiya, no last name, and I'm this organization's Intelligence Head Officer." The tone he took on reminded Naruto of those third rate actors in the television desperately trying to sound dandy but failing to do so. "And of course, the number one heart breaker in Japan."

But before he could go on and make his introduction longer, a younger male voice interrupted him. "In other words, a pervert."

Everyone chuckled, even Tsunade was smirking.

While Jiraiya was grumbling at how someone had just ruined his introduction, the one that interrupted him decided to go next.

Next was a man Naruto could consider of more-than-average looks. Angular jaw, black eyes... but really, what drew Naruto's attention was the fact that he was wearing a beanie hat on his head. The man grinned, waving his hand in a friendly manner.

"Toujo Mizuki, I'm from management." Some people snickered, but the most notable one was Jiraiya. "Oh come on, it wasn't that lame. Right?"

"No wonder Tsubaki ditched you that one time during Christmas if that's how you introduce yourself to people, Mizuki."

A deeper, gruffer and relatively mature voice piped up next. It took Naruto no effort to conclude that the man was a smoker, it was evident from how heavy and breathy his voice was. And that explained the smell of nicotine he had been smelling ever since he entered the room.

"Sarutobi Asuma, just call me Asuma. Unlike Mizuki over there, I'm the Head Handler for field agents." He had a smile on his face when he introduced himself. A tall man with a beard, intimidating if he tried to look the part. "Read some stuff about you, son. I'm just glad that we're on a friendly term."

"Friendly?" Shikamaru, even in his drowsy and unmotivated state, piped up from Asuma's left. "He threatened me, remember?"

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Maa, but anyway, you know me." The pineapple haired sleepy head yawned loudly, enough to be compared to a whale. "And, I know I haven't said anything about it before, but I'm your handler from now on."

"My handler?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah, sucks more for me, though." Shikamaru yawned again. "But, anyway, you know what you're doing so far; so I can't complain about anything just yet."

Last but not the least, the only other female in the room aside from Tsunade.

"Shishou, I still don't think that bringing him here into our headquarters is a good idea."

Naruto could not blame the pink haired girl for thinking like that. He even questioned the ingenuity of that fact before to Tsunade.

Dressed in a red blouse with white accents coloring the bordering seams of the clothing, she also wore a black, knee-length pleated skirt and a pair of black latex cork wedges. Everything about her clothing screamed prim and proper, even her hair was combed properly, showing off more than average forehead. Her jade-like eyes were giving him suspicious looks, but it had transcended the levels of suspicion with how long he had been staring at her.

"We've talked about this before Sakura, do not make me repeat myself."

"Yes, Shishou..."

"Ahem, anyway, that was Haruno Sakura, my assistant and the Assistant Doctor of the medical staff here. Despite her less than competent look, she's good enough to beat those snobby Tokyo-U med grads." With a jerk of a thumb, the boss of the organization pointed to the pink haired girl.

"S-Shishou!"

"Alright, now that introductions are over, let us begin with the discussions."

Discussions? Naruto was not made aware of this. Tsunade told him that he was going to be here for introductions only. Looking at exit, the whiskered blonde thought whether or not it was a good idea to excuse himself and exit the place for good.

"Naruto," Tsunade's voice broke him from his trance. ",please take a seat next to Shikamaru."

Nodding, the blonde made his way towards the boy who was struggling to keep himself awake for the important discussion. His seating position had placed him in between Shikamaru and the pink haired girl. Of course, said pink haired girl was less than happy to have him sitting next to her.

"Jiraiya, start the projector."

"Already on it, Hime."

The projector placed on the ceiling descended, the lens guard retracting so that it could project the image on the empty wall in front of it. The picture shown on the wall showed the logo of the Yukinoshita Conglomerate, as well as several text boxes detailing what Naruto had already known based on Tsunade's earlier explanation.

"So, we know that LeafCorp has begun moving to their next phase by hiring the help of Japan's biggest building and architectural company in order to increase their operations in the Japanese market. While we have deduced that they are sure to focus on private sector businesses in the country, there is no telling what they'll do should they decide to appeal to the public."

The projector switches the display, now projecting the image of the Port of Tokyo in its busy and shipping container-filled state.

"Aside from that, there's no telling what kind of tech LeafCorp has managed to smuggle into Japan over the past few months, past year even. Our influence isn't big enough to grant us that kind of knowledge, which is why we've been doing nothing but spy work these days. Stopping them from gaining popularity is our main priority, hence it's important for us to know their next move. But therein lies the problem: we don't."

When the next slide showed, Naruto's eyes widened briefly.

"However, we have Naruto to thank over here for being acquainted with one of the Yukinoshita's daughter." Tsunade was not ignorant to the fact that Naruto was currently glaring at her with the ferocity of a hungry tiger.

Even with his anger on display, he managed to keep his silence. He could have blow up any moment, but he needed to hear more of Tsunade's words to shed some light on the topic.

The slide showed a picture of his fellow student and club mate, Yukinoshita Yukino. With the way the picture's showing her full face and uniform, they must have had taken it from the school's server. It looked like the picture that the school made them take for their ID book.

"Whoa, can't wait to see her in a few years time." Mizuki commented playfully, a grin forming on his face.

Naruto felt his fist tightened. The man was sitting across from him, kicking the table should be easier, he didn't know why he thought of punching him the first place.

"We're supposed to question her to find out more about the decision that her family might have made regarding the deal with LeafCorp."

"Wait, 'supposed'?" Jiraiya spoke up, confused. "Isn't that the plan, Hime?"

"Apparently, our resident soldier over there objects the idea of involving _anyone_ from his school into our business." Tsunade revealed with a nudge of her head.

"Oho? What's the matter kid, she your girl or something?"

Naruto did not answer to Jiraiya's teasing, causing the old man to back off.

"Ma'am, I agree with Naruto's decision of not involving her into this matter." Naruto was not expecting Shikamaru to speak. Honestly, he expected that he'd dozed off long enough to the point of sleep or something.

"Oh?"

"We've already had a student from his school turning out to be a spy. We don't need anything like that happening again in the future." He sighed. "Do you know how worried I was when we found out that that kid was an assassin with ties with LeafCorp?"

"But there was no need to worry, the kid took care of him in the end." Asuma pitched in, stretching his long arms. "Haven't seen the assassin myself, but last I heard, he was still unconscious."

"True." Tsunade confirmed Asuma's memory. "Anyway, I can see your concern of involving another person from Naruto's school, Shikamaru. It's a good thing that Yukino was never our priority in the first place."

The slide proceeded at the same time as Naruto's raising of his left eyebrow. This time, the slide was showing another female, but it was not a girl, but a woman. The whistle coming from Mizuki confirmed that this woman was a looker, and indeed she was. A beauty, even the picture clearly showed that. But it didn't take long for Naruto to connect the dots.

"This is Yukinoshita Haruno, the heiress of the Yukinoshita Conglomerate." said Tsunade.

"Now that's a girl I don't mind seeing right _now_."

"You can say that again, Tojou-kun." Jiraiya smirked.

"Mizuki, Jiraiya, zip it." the head director's firm glare was cold enough to make them shut up. "Anyway, our main objective was her all along. Since she's the oldest of the two daughters and prime candidate for inheriting the family's business, she has to know more than the Yukino kid."

Tsunade's eyes turned to the ex-mercenary in the room. "Naruto, have you met her before?"

At Tsunade's question, Naruto shook his head.

"Good. Though we're not telling you to approach and make contact with her-

"You're _asking_ me to approach and make contact with her."

Jiraiya snorted. "Smart kid."

"...yes, we're _asking_ you to make contact with her and learn anything you can learn regarding her family's business' deal with LeafCorp." said Tsunade, this time, her tone was more subdued.

"But Haruno-san is not just going to spill everything she knows to Naruto-san." Sakura stated the obvious.

"Obviously," Tsunade and Naruto rolled their eyes at the same time. ",it's not going to be as easy as that. From what we've gathered, she's not someone to be trifled with. She could be as fierce as her mother when it comes down to business. So, Naruto, we want you to at least get on her good side, find out anything you can about her first and her family later."

The whiskered blonde did not give any reaction.

"We have Jiraiya's network working to gather everything we could about LeafCorp, but hearing things from someone who's defected from them should be able to highlight the bits we've gathered." Tsunade said. "Naruto, sorry about this but you're going to have to stay up late to help us fact check some information."

The blonde did not respond.

"You'll be paid for it."

Still no response.

Eyeing the still and silent boy, Tsunade felt something bad creeping towards her. Seconds later, the boy finally responded by shrugging his shoulders. Releasing her bated breath, Tsunade nodded. "Thank you. Everyone, you're dismissed. Shikamaru, Jiraiya, please accompany Naruto to the intelligence department."

Naruto may had only met them in this short while, but he got the feeling that it was going to be a long night.

* * *

He hated being right.

Last night was a long night indeed. They kept him there for three hours fact checking information that he only knew half of. Needless to say, he was not in a good mood this morning. Sleep depravity was a concept that had returned to him once again. Back when he was still working for LeafCorp, he could stay awake for three days straight before eventually passing out from the lack of sleep. But since he did not have to stay awake for such a long period of time anymore these days, he had gotten too comfortable with his sleeping habit.

"Good morning everyone!"

"Yo, morning!"

"Morning!"

His classmates in class 2-F got to greet each other with a smile on their face, while he was on his seat, with no other choice but to endure and resist the temptation to sleep. Naruto was close to dozing off earlier, but he could not sleep when homeroom was twenty minutes away from starting.

"Hey, Naruto, good morning!"

A familiar pink haired individual skips over to him, a huge smile plastered on her face. She looked like she had a good night's sleep, something which irked Naruto a little bit.

"Good morning, Yui." He already looked miserable, there was no need for him to sound miserable too.

"Say, you don't look too fresh today, did you sleep well last night?"

The blonde's eyebrow twitched as Yui's question reminded him of the absurd 'interrogation' that Parabellum made him go through last night. "I can't say I have the pleasure. I apologize if I look unsightly."

"N-No, that's okay, more like, you should sleep properly from now on!" For some reason which was completely clueless to Naruto, she started admonishing him for his lack of sleep. "We've been having a lot of pop quizzes lately, it'd be a waste if you fell asleep doing them!"

"...coming from the girl who fell asleep when she gave up with her quiz isn't exactly convincing, Yui."

"M-Mou! T-Those were different!" the bubbly girl denied with a face comparable to that of bubble gum.

Though Naruto felt like he could say at least two or three things against Yui's denial, he felt slightly more awake from the conversation with Yui.

Despite it being a noisy classroom, the sound of door opening would naturally draw people's attention. But this time, what drew people's attention wasn't exactly the opening of door itself, but the person opening the door.

Or to be more specific, the state and condition of the person opening the door.

"T-Totsuka-san, you're all wrapped up!"

"Eh, what happened, did you got into an accident?"

"Oh my gosh..."

Self restrain did Naruto good as he was able to prevent himself from cursing. Everyone in class was literally staring at the banged up looking Saika who was standing underneath the door frame covered in bandages and an arm sling supporting his right arm. Naruto was glad that he didn't inflict any serious damage to Saika's face, otherwise it would make the whole accident thing a lot less convincing.

"Ahahaha... y-yeah, got into a bad accident last night when I returned from grocery shopping..." Attempting to dismiss all the attention he was receiving, Saika shuffled to his seat.

Walking past Naruto's seat, Yui approached the bandaged tennis player. "Sai-chan, are you okay, what happened?!" Not only did she looked worried, she also sound worried.

"It was an accident with a car, Yui-chan." The silver haired teen, despite being bruised all over, still managed to laugh. "Don't worry, the doctor said that it was nothing serious."

"B-But you're all wrapped in bandages!"

For a moment, while Yui was still babbling to herself about Saika's state, the tennis player sent the blonde a look. This was well received by the whiskered teen himself, who returned the tennis player's look with one of his own. The two seemed to have forgotten that they were in fact inside a classroom with how intense they had been staring each other.

"N-Naruto, Sai-chan?"

At the sound of Yui's voice, the two boys made things look like as if their death stare had never happened. Saika was back to smiling, albeit in pain, while Naruto's usual less-than-caring facade returned to his face.

"Yes, what is it, Yui-chan?" asked the bandaged tennis player.

"The two of you were staring at each other... did something happen?" Yui twiddled her thumb together, looking strangely shy about something.

"Nothing happened." was Naruto's brief and curt answer. "It's a shame that you got into an accident, Totsuka-san. It seemed that the request with the tennis club will have to be postponed."

"Ah!" Yui made a face of realization, dropping a fist onto her open palm. "That's right, Sai-chan's request! What are we gonna do about it, Naruto? Now that Sai-chan's all injured, we can't play tennis!"

Chuckling uneasily, Saika used his good hand to wave Yui's concern away. "It's fine, Yui-chan. I learned a lot from the training session we did, so, I'm sure I'll improve playing after I'm healed."

"Regardless," interjected the blonde haired foreigner. ",we still have to inform Yukino-san about this."

"Okay, I'll go do that at lunch then." Yui paused, thinking. "Why don't we go and tell her together, Naruto? Sai-chan can't follow us though since he's hurt..."

"It's fine, the two of you can tell Yukinoshita-san. I'll just stay here in the classroom." said the injured tennis player.

"Okay then." Yui nodded.

Saika waved her goodbye, returning to his seat somewhere away from Naruto's. He had other people approaching him, questioning him about his current state, making his morning a rather busy one already. Yui returned to her own seat, leaving Naruto alone to his own devices. Yui said that they would move out to meet Yukino at lunch, so Naruto made a mental note to take his bag with him when lunch started.

"Hm?"

Speaking of notes...

Picking up the folded piece from paper subtly placed at the upper right corner of his table, he eyed it for a moment. Finally opening it, his eyes glazed over the content of the paper.

It read:

 **Roof. After school. Skip club.**

Raising an eyebrow at the message, the blonde crumpled the paper, pocketing it to throw later. He turned his body, facing the general direction of Saika's seat. When he turned, he was greeted by the sight of Saika flipping him the bird, before returning to his prince-like persona.

 _'Well that was concise.'_

* * *

"...so that's what happen, basically, Yukinon..."

Yukinoshita Yukino hummed, her lunch box cast aside in exchange for learning the information that Yui had to share with her. Her eyes was staring off to the distance, signifying her occupied thoughts. Sighing after a few seconds of thinking, she reached for her lunch box, bringing it to her lap.

"I guess it can't be helped then if things turned out like this." said the black haired club president. "But is Totsuka-san really okay? I hope it's nothing serious."

"Hnn, Sai-chan said that it wasn't."

"Thank goodness." It was about time the black haired beauty turned her attention to the only boy in the room. "While I know I am a rather eye catching individual, Naruto-kun, must you stare at me with such intensity?"

"E-Eh? N-Naruto's staring at Yukinon..."

Indeed, he was staring at Yukino. But not for the reason that one might thought. After being caught red handed for his act, the blonde rolled his eyes. "Your eyelashes. They're longer."

Of course, that was not the real reason why he was staring at her. But it was true, Yukino's eyelashes were indeed longer.

Blinking, the black haired girl herself was astonished. "You noticed?" asked Yukino.

"Hm? Oh yeah!" Yui exclaimed, after taking a closer look at the club president. "Did you wear some fake eyelashes, Yukinon?"

"W-Well, my sister told me to try it on for her since she's not really used to wear such things." Defended the girl. "And I was hoping to have your comment about it, Yuigahama-san, but it seems that Naruto-kun noticed it... first..."

 _'So her sister's just that attractive, huh?'_ thought the blonde.

Well, the picture he saw last night of Yukinoshita Haruno did not lie. She was an attractive woman by the definition of looks, and that trait seems to have been passed on to the youngest daughter too. He was starting to get a clearer sight of the Yukinoshita family...

"You have a sister, Yukinon?" Naturally, Naruto listened in closer to the conversation.

"Ah, I have not mentioned anything it, have I?" for someone who was talking about a member of her family, she sure did not sound too cheerful. "Yes, I have an older sister. Her name is Yukinoshita Haruno and she used to go to school here."

That was one information Naruto learned from just listening. If Haruno used to go to school here, he could learn something about her just by looking at the school's record... something that would require stealing in the first place. Oh well, he just had to listen in for more details.

"Heeeh... so your sister's Alma mater is here, huh?"

"Oh? I'm surprised that you know such a word, Yuigahama-san."

"M-Mou... don't be so mean, Yukinon..." the bubblegum haired girl whined, before switching the topic. "Anyway, are we really going to stop helping Sai-chan?"

Yukinoshita gave a nod as an answer, albeit an uneasy one. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do, as pushing Totsuka-san would only worsen his condition." she said. "But he is still invited to mingle around in the club room, if that is what you're wondering, Yuigahama-san."

"I see, I'll tell him later then!"

 _'More chances of Saika being nearby... not something I want.'_ Though he was trying hard to not make it look obvious, he was avoiding Saika for the good reasons. _'That assassin is too much of a wildcard for my liking.'_

Not to mention, there was that note from before too...

"Anyway, Naruto-kun, let us talk about your progress, shall we?" After finishing the last piece of her lunch, Yukino set aside the now empty lunch box.

"Eh? Progress?" asked Yui, looking like a clueless cat.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto was figuring out what Yukino meant by progress, only in a much subtler way than Yui. Then, he remembered.

"I've been socializing with people just fine, thank you for asking." replied the boy with minimal effort, sounding 'cool' for Yui.

"Ah, I can certainly see that." Yukino nodded. "Not only did you manage to have someone like Yuigahama-san talk to you casually, you were also able to keep up conversations with her." She paused, her eyes entering a trance. "...I surely hope that there are no ill reasons as to why you're getting along so well with her."

'Why is she looking at Yui's chest?' But Naruto didn't feel like bringing his thoughts out verbally, voicing it in the most private corners of his mind.

"But Naruto's a pretty fun person to hang around with, you know."

At Yui's claim, the blonde's ears twitched.

"He's actually a very good listener, Yukinon! Last time, when I was babbling about the newest cosmetics I bought with mama at the mall, he remembered every single detail of the things I bought!" For someone who was recalling something that could be considered as trivial, Yui sounded happy. "Even I don't remember half the things I said sometimes!"

"Yuigahama-san, isn't that just your habit of being forgetful?"

"E-Eh? Really? B-But Naruto's still a fun person to talk with." She said. Then, she **finally** realized what she said. "N-Not like there's any deeper meaning to it, okay?!"

Giggling, Yukino found herself amused by her fellow club mate's theatrics. She gestured with a hand to the blushing girl sitting right beside her. "Well, what do you say to that, Naruto-kun?"

If he had to be honest, it felt relieving for him to know that he was able to come off as a normal person to Yui. Even though he knew that he was anything but one from the beginning. Yui was a nice girl. That much he knew. She was always the first one to approach people and talk to them, even towards people she never met before. There was that one might in class when they were supposed to make a team of four for a project. He was grouped with other three boys whom he could not recall and when he looked at Yui, she was already walking around the room, with people following her.

It felt... wrong for him to have such a person waste their energy on someone like him, honestly.

The two girls, Yui especially, were waiting for the blonde teen to answer. They saw him shrug his broad shoulders, turning his face away from them slightly.

"It's... flattering."

Yui did not know that she could fall for someone even more.

* * *

"Три... два... один..."

The door swung open in the speed of a speeding snail, its rusted hinges causing it to make a lengthy squeaking sound before eventually coming to a halt after coming in contact with the door stopper.

A pair of cloudy blue eyes gazed at the green tracksuit wearing mummy standing on the roof, who also had one of his arm slung over a medical purpose arm sling. Feeling the gaze imposed upon him by the blonde standing underneath the door frame, the Russian born teen returned the look with a piercing glare of his own.

"You're almost late." barked the tracksuit wearing boy.

"You're telling me you counted?"

"Hmph, the boredom was mortifying, сука." Saika did not miss the slight twitch on the blonde's eyebrow. "Now, come over here." Unsurprisingly, Naruto did not move an inch from his spot. "...as much as I don't like it... I won't try to kill you."

But Naruto was not going buy Saika's reason just yet. "Why?" asked the whiskered teen.

"After being... questioned last night, they confirmed to me that you are a former LeafCorp operative." Saika explained, his good hand was balling into a fist. "...and they also told me what my father's people did to your... men."

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously. _'Parabellum know details about what happened that day... just how much are they hiding from me?'_

"Though I won't give up the idea of killing you... I will be willing to come up to a truce."

Without hesitation, Naruto spoke, "Let's hear it then. The conditions." He crossed his arms.

"I will not commit any acts of aggression within the school and do things that might compromise both of our real identity. I'm fully aware that if you go down, I go down." Saika paused, licking his lower lip to aid his speech. "The same goes outside the школа, school." He glared at Naruto, straight to his eyes. "I am willing to uphold these conditions should you be willing to do the same."

'There were so many loopholes in that condition.' Mused the blonde. But, he nodded, despite knowing better. "Alright, I accept your terms." Nodding, the blonde was about to turn and leave, before—

"Why?"

Saika's question stopped him dead on his tracks.

"Why? Why did you kill him?" The silver haired boy raised his head, revealing a pair of familiar looking cloudy blue eyes. "Everyone... none of them were alive... even the employees that had nothing to do with it... WHY DID YOU KILL ALL OF THEM?!"

Naruto did not react after being subjected to the raw, emotional outburst from the shorter boy. Naruto still had his back faced towards him, something that pissed Saika off even further. The air was already intense and eerie from the setting sun, their confrontation up here did not help with the atmosphere even a little bit.

"My father... he built Kestrel with his own two hands. All those sleepless nights... those days he'd spent neglecting his family for work... it was all put to waste because of you..."

Saika gritted his teeth, grounding them to a point where they were making sounds.

"...when the government declared my father a criminal... I couldn't accept it! The news spit on his name and everything he had done! They took away everything we owned! Our house, our property, our wealth, our dignity! E-Even mother... mother... s-she..." His legs gave up, bringing him down to his knees.

Choked sobbing came from behind Naruto, but still, he did not move an inch.

"T-Tell me... _why...?_ "

Naruto heard the plea loud and clear. He closed his eyes.

" _Fahrid, they have tanks from the North!"_

" _Don't let them through our left flank, Fahrid, keep the heat on them!"_

" _Fahrid... we... lost them. None of them survived."_

" _...boy, from now on, you are Naruto. The boy named Fahrid no longer exists. He died in Afghanistan from American carpet bombings."_

Saika heard the sound of rustling, and eventually footsteps, approaching towards him. He looked up to see Naruto, standing, towering over him, with his usual listless facade.

"Tell me this first: do you know the name of the four men that your father's people killed?"

"H-Huh?"

The blonde's eyes, despite them not glaring, were piercing. "Of course you don't. So, what makes you think that I even cared about murdering your father?"

Saika was aghast.

"I didn't even know which one of them was your father... in the end, they ended up in the same body bag."

The boy's hands fell limp on his sides, eyes wide.

"But I'll tell you what I know." Naruto said. "I know that you hate me. I know that you want to kill me."

The blonde bent his body forward, arcing his back so that he could squat in front of the injured tennis player.

"But guess what? I _want_ to kill you too."

Saika flinched. Hard.

"What I did to your father's men that night was not enough to sate the amount of ungodly hate and fury that I felt when they... butchered those four men right in front my very eyes. Even as I tear through their flesh and bones, I could not quench my thirst for their blood even a little bit. As I ripped and tore through their walls, the look of pure despair and fear on their faces fueled my rampage. The screams they made when they realized that they were the ones trapped in there and not me were something that I _ecstatically_ enjoyed. I wished I could have left some of them alive so that I could personally hunt them myself and make them suffer the same fate as their friends."

His voice took on a more... 'demonic' tone. **"Lo and behold, here you are, the son of one of the people responsible for the death of four good men. You were right in saying that if I go down, you'd go down with me. But make no mistakes..."**

Saika was no longer seeing a human. He was seeing something much, much worse.

Not even a demon could come close to describe what he was seeing.

" **...unlike me... you won't be able to get back up."**

With that final message, the blonde turned on his heel, and left the scene.

He also left behind a crying and traumatized tennis player too.

* * *

"...Kawasaki-san, hey, do you mind if you help up with this?"

She disliked nosy people.

"...get lost."

But she disliked nosy _girls_ the most.

Even if they were to smile and say nice things to her, she hated them. In fact, she hated those types of people the most, second to the stuck up ones. The fact that most boys around here were either shameless creeps or fake to the core was something she did not mind, after all, she had no interest in things like boys or romance or anything like that. Besides, the boys knew when to give up after they got tired from approaching her. It's the girls here that were the real pain.

As they troupe of girls left her to her own devices, while cursing her on their way out, she returned to fiddle around with her phone. Her aggressive gray eyes glared at the clock display on the phone.

 _'Damn... it's almost time for my job...'_ Sighing, she stood up from her seat and made her way out of her classroom.

Even on her way out, people were avoiding her subtly. She could not, for the love god, miss the whispers they made as she walked past them. But she could ignore them, let them whisper and say things about her. She let it all happened because she knew that it was the only thing they could do.

Besides, one look from her was enough to make them all scram at the same time.

Resuming her walk, she had her eyes glued to her phone's screen, her thumb skillfully punching on the buttons to input hiragana writings to the screen. She did this for some time, until it was time for her to take a left turn, towards the stairs. But—

"Oof!"

"...hn."

She looked up, her eyes glaring at the person who had just crashed into her. She realized that the person was familiar. "You again? Don't you have eyes or somet-"

She was not able to finish her statement. Why? When his eyes met her, she lost her entire ability to speak. Her words literally died in her mouth, disabling her ability to resume what she was about to say. Her words were killed by the stare she was receiving from the taller person and she thought that she was going to die herself.

Blue eyes were often associated with warmness and tranquility. They were supposed to be kind and peaceful... not... _murderous_. However, and unfortunately, the pair that belonged to the person she just crashed into were neither kind or peaceful, but it certainly promised death.

"S-S-S-S-Sorry... I-I..."

Again, the person did not let her finish talking. He simply resumed his walk, leaving for the stairs, descending, presumably to leave the school.

With her body in the semi-paralyzed state it was in, it took her a second before she could move, but the very first move she made was that of a fall. She fell to the floor on her hide, shoulders shivering and hands rattling.

"W-W-What the hell was that...?" She gasped out, panting. _'I-I thought I was going to die...!'_ She wiped her eyes, wiping the tears before they could form. _'Who the hell was that?!'_

"N-No... wait, that was..."

The only good thing for Kawasaki Saki that evening was the fact that no one was there when she fell.

* * *

 **Yoho, finally got to update another chapter of this.**

 **I guess I'm going to take a break with writing Immortal and focus on this. My muse struck me again and it compelled me to write more for this story. So, rejoice followers of this story!**


	7. Downtime

If she could ask for one wish and have that wish granted... she would surely wish for something greater than all the worldly vices in existence. It would be something stronger than strength, more than wealth, greater than power and higher than fame. It would be something that even she did not know of.

But would it be something she yearned? Absolutely.

The word 'complicated' would not come close to describe the woman that was Yukinoshita Haruno. While it was a fact shared with some people out there, she liked to think that she was not an easy person. Who would want to be thought as such anyway?

For a woman who almost reached the ripe age of twenty, she had learned more than what her generation had accumulated in their earlier years. With a mother like hers... no one could blame her if she said that she was foreign with the concept of things like mercy and fairness.

Mercy was a grace that no one deserved, and fairness was an illusion set up by the weak.

That was what her mother had carved into her mind ever since she was old enough to count to ten and even she herself wondered how she did not end up an exact replica as her mother.

Ah, but she knew why.

Unlike her cute, foolish but nonetheless lovable little sister...

...she did not fail.

"Ojou-sama, we have arrived."

Her rogue colored supple, juicy lips smacked in anticipation as the limousine came to a halt. The smoke tinted windows of the vehicle shielded its occupant from the glaring sunlight outside, but all in all, the weather was good. Opening the door by pulling on the knob, she stepped outside with her left foot touching the ground first. Now outside, she stretched her arms upwards.

Haruno's eyes sneaked around, noticing the not-so-subtle stares that people were giving her. She had no reason to hide it. Like any other women, she loved attention and would appreciate any given her way.

"I'll call you when I'm done here, Shigure." Haruno told the driver.

"Yes, Ojou-sama." Haruno saw her driver tipping the driver's cap with a gloved hand, acknowledging her reminder.

After receiving a wave from a smiling Haruno, the driver stepped on the gas pedal, engines humming, before eventually driving off to disappear on the corner of the street.

"Alright, now, let's see... is he here yet..." Checking her phone, she browsed through her recent SMS logs. "Oh, looks like he's here. No surprise there, ufufu." Even as she was talking to her stare, she received nothing but admiring looks.

And jealousy, of course.

Dressed in a blue satin blouse which was gleaming underneath the sunlight, the collar was left undone to show the jeweled necklace around her neck. The blouse was tucked into a pair of baggy crop pants kept together with a red skinny belt. Her cork wedges high heels provided her with an addition two and half inches of height, but she managed to move without any hint of difficulty.

"It should be around here somewhere... aha, there it is!" Quickening her pace, she walked merrily, holding her handbag with her.

Reaching the destination, she entered the establishment, pushing the front door open. The chime of bells signaled her entrance and Haruno was greeted by the serene pub-cafe hybrid atmosphere. Surveying the interior quickly, she was quite impressed with what she was seeing. She did not know that a place existed, looks like she had been missing a lot ever since her departure.

"Oh there he is!" Her eyes brightened when they spot a familiar tall, male form sitting at the corner of the cafe.

"Itachi-kun!"

Said man opened one eye, watching as his caller made her way through the serving aisle, avoiding waiters and waitresses as they tend to the others.

Even seated, one could immediately tell that he was of a tall height. Dressed sharply, he looked like a character out of a Shoujo manga. Handsome, wealthy, composed... he could easily be the main love interest of a Shoujo manga protagonist. But unfortunately, he was no such things. He was-

"Mou, Itachi-kun, you could've said 'hello' or something." Itachi was mildly amused by the pout that Haruno was making. It brought him a sense of nostalgia and comfort.

"I'd rather talk when needed." His answer made Haruno pout harder. "So, now that you're here, let's talk, shall we?" He smiled as the woman took her seat opposite of him.

The pout was erased. Poof. As if it was never there. It was replaced by a wide smile, one that did not look forced and was easy on the eyes. "Alright then, so, mind telling me why did you choose this place for our meeting?"

The ponytailed man's beady black eyes showed a flicker of amusement. He was expecting her to ask him that very question first things first.

"No reason, it was simply the closest one from where I was recently." answered the black haired man, his voice as crisp as the acoustic audio speakers playing inside the establishment.

"Oh, was it a job?" asked Haruno.

"Yes." Itachi nodded. "A quick one, fortunately." he shifted his position so that he could reach for something from underneath.

Watching the gesture, Haruno saw her friend pull out a brown paper file, placing it on the table before them. A waitress stopped by, placing the free cold iced tea, an act custom to most food establishment.

"This is to be sent directly to your father." Itachi instructed Haruno. "We would have done it ourselves, but I figured that I might as well have you deliver it for us since we're meeting here."

"Oho?" Haruno eyed the document with interest. Crossing her arms, she asked, "Is this relating to this deal that your higher ups is offering us?"

The black haired man nodded. "Yes, but it's best to not talk about such things here." warned Itachi.

"Sorry, sorry." Itachi was skeptical of her apology. "So, I'll deliver this to father later then. Now, back to us," Haruno leaned forward, perching her chin on her palms, which were supported by her elbows. "have you been busy lately, Itachi-kun?"

Realizing the casual nature of their topic, Itachi allowed himself to relax, bringing up a hand on the table. "Things have been going rather swimmingly for the past few months... I'm glad that it's been that way."

"Ah, I see." Haruno nodded a few times. "You got your masters degree from Todai in less than a year and now you already have a stable job." There was no admiration, just plain facts. "It's surprising that you're not someone just yet."

"You could have graduated early too." Countered the stoic man, reaching for his glass. "Was it a good idea to stay there longer?"

Being asked that particular question, Haruno's smile slipped off her face. She looked down, lifting her face from her palms to look at her toe.

"Well... you know, I still want to enjoy whatever freedom I have now." Melancholic was the only thing that came to Itachi's mind when he heard her voice. "But when the time comes, I'll be ready. We're all expected to, anyway."

Itachi might not show it, but he agreed with Haruno.

Yukinoshita Haruno was not a stranger to him, yet she was not exactly someone he could say he had an intimate relationship. They were close, yes, but nothing more than just a pair of college friends. Beyond that...

"But, really, shouldn't you be going through the same things I'm going through right now?" The pout returned, this time fueled with slight envy. "Must be nice being allowed to work for another company other than your own, huh?" She let out an exaggerated sigh.

"The Uchiha Conglomerate sure is something, letting the successor of their family business roam around like this."

Itachi closed one eye, but everything else still remained in their normal listless state. He reached for his tea, saying,

"Believe me when I say that you're allowed more room than I do." Itachi retorted calmly. "I may be independent, but my independence is something that is _allowed_ to me. And I still help the family business from time to time, and I'll even say that I've contributed more than you."

"Oh? The _Uchiha Itachi_ is joking? My, is the world coming to an end?" said Haruno with a playful wink.

Shrugging, the man could only utter a very curt "Hn."

"So Uchiha-like of you, Itachi-kun. Ufufufu."

While the two friends are catching up, a customer sitting two tables adjacent to them was idly stirring on his cup of cafe latte. He was sitting still with his back straight and not touching the chair's back rest. His left hand was stirring the drink, while his right one was busy scribbling down words on a notepad with a pen.

The tan colored cap worn on his head shielded the upper portion of his face, and with the way he was casting his head down, he was not giving anyone a clear look on his face. The black and orange shemagh coiled around his neck gave him a rather foreign feeling, and him being an actual foreigner did not help.

The pen held between his fingers burn through the notepad's content, filling in every empty white space with small, detailed and concise scribbling of words.

This went on for tens of minutes, twenty even. When thirty minutes had passed from the moment he began writing, he was already about to finish his notepad.

"Well today's been fun, Itachi-kun, thank you for the parfait and cake."

"Don't mention it."

The oldest daughter of the Yukinoshita family giggled at her friend's lackluster response. "I'll be taking my leave then, my driver's already outside. Bye bye, Itachi-kun~"

"Hn."

After hearing the exchange, the cap wearing customer placed his pen down, relaxing his fingers after a long period of jotting down important information from the pair he had been eavesdropping on ever since the start. His ears twitched, and a quick peek confirmed that the black haired man had exited the establishment.

Despite his objectives no longer present, he waited inside for another twenty minutes or so. This was done so that he could avoid meeting them when he finally left, getting found out after eavesdropping on your targets was a very lame way of failing an assignment.

Standing up from his seat, he set aside the empty glass containing the cafe latte he had consumed until the last drop next to the other empty glasses from his previous orders. Taking out his wallet, he left several bills on the table, just enough to leave the shop with a pretty amount of tip.

Checking out his surroundings, making sure that he didn't leave anything behind; he then finally exited the shop. Once outside, he pulled out his phone and brought it to his ear.

" ** _What did you get?"_**

"She was meeting someone called Uchiha Itachi."

"...hm... that's... alarming."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... at least nothing solid just yet, though the director's not going to like this... well anyway, you're cleared for the day. We'll brief you for another assignment when we're finished here."

"Hm."

The call ended on an ominous note.

What was the recipe that Professor Utonium had originally chosen in order to create the perfect little girls?

Sugar, spice and everything nice...

…what a load of bull.

"Oi Hikigaya, you better start doing our homework and have them done by next week. Otherwise, your little secret's not going to stay secret forever!"

Under the wolfish jeers of her classmates, a dark green haired girl slowly picked up the books scattered around her that were thrown by her classmates. She did not say anything as they laughed, keeping her gaze down on the ground.

"Look at her, she's not even fighting back. Ain't that pathetic?! Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha! Totally!"

"Laaaaame~!"

"Eeew, she's like, so gross!"

They were all girls. All of them. Most of them were pretty, sure, but 'nice'? Not so much.

Aside from gathering the scattered books around her, she did nothing. She stood up, cradling the thick bundle of homework with her to her table, before placing it on the desk for her to carry later. Her classmates left the classroom all the while insulting her and calling her names. After making sure that they had properly left the area, she breathed out in relief.

"...whew, I'm beat." she sighed. _'Well, not literally, but, oh well.'_ She made sure that the proper number of books were present, as she did not want a repeat of what happened when she 'lost' one of them.

It's a good thing that they didn't share that picture they took of her to the rest of the students.

"...eight... nine... ten. Whew." She used the sleeve of her uniform to wipe the sweat that threatened to trickle down her eyebrow. "I'm sure that there were only five of them last time..."

Despite the fact of knowing that there were indeed only five of them last time...

"Oh well, no helping that I suppose."

This was her daily life at school. Attend classes, get decent grades, eat lunch quietly and do five to ten people's homework and have them ready when they are due... this was completely normal for her.

But it was probably not normal for other middle school girls.

After managing to, somehow, fit all ten books inside her already jam-packed school bag, she left the classroom. Walking through the quiet and evening tinted halls, she hummed a little tune for her. Normally, it was not a good idea, as other students would stare at her for humming an unfamiliar tune. It was a foreign song after all, an English song.

" _Blackbird singing in the dead of night..."_

Her voice was not one made for singing, but she still sang regardless of knowing that it was not that great.

" _Take these broken wings and... learn to fly..."_

Her voice trailed off, disappearing. Shortly, she giggled, her left fang poking out as she hopped through the empty hallways of the school.

If only someone would lent her wings in the first place.

"So, so, Yumiko was like-"

Naruto easily tuned out Yui's rambling by putting more focus into his homework. It was supposed to be a homework, but he ended up doing it at club since he had nothing to do. Since THEY had nothing to do. It had been decided – mostly by Yui herself – that Yui was now a member of their merry little club, explaining her presence within the room.

He had finished his sciences, finding them to be easier than the geometry homework he was currently doing. But looking at the leftover pages, he could finish them in another ten or fifteen minutes.

"It seems that you're rather close with Miura-san, Yuigahama-san." Yukinoshita commented after pouring a new, warm batch of tea into her mug.

"Hm, hm!" With childlike innocence, Yui nodded her head. "Yumiko is like one of my closest friends! We've known each other ever since our first year here!" then she made a thoughtful expression. "Say, Yukinon, you and Hayama-kun know each other, right?"

Naruto, who was listening very carefully to what they were talking about, stopped writing, as if he had just switched his focus from his homework to the girls' conversation. Rudeness be damned.

Yukinoshita fidgeted on her spot, obviously uncomfortable from being subjected to a question related to certain blonde haired prince, but she still retained the same calm composure she was known for.

"That is true, Yuigahama-san." Yukinoshita confirmed, but she could not help asking, "Why? Do my name appear often in your group's conversation?"

The pink haired girl's response was a combination between a set of nods and a reply altogether. "Totally. Like, there was this one time when Tobecchi and the guys were talking about girls, but at some point, your name came up! And, and, Hayato-kun was all, like, _'Yukino-chan's a nice person once you get to know her'_ or something like that."

Instead of the usual nonchalant response Yui would receive from the black haired girl, she received a straight, disgusted scoff. "...that person... who does he think he is..."

Sensing that she had just stepped on a landmine, and unknowingly so, the pink haired girl backed away. "D-Did something happen between you two, Yukinon?" Yui mentally cursed herself for prying even further. _'Dang it me!'_

"It's..." Yukinoshita hesitated. Whether it was due to her reluctance of not wanting to share the information or was it due to something else entirely, Yui did not know. "We are childhood friends."

Naruto's ears perked up.

"Eh..." Yui awed. "No wonder he referred to you so familiarly..."

"Yes..." The black haired club president sighed. "I would like it if we avoid talking about that person, Yuigahama-san. Talking about him makes me feel... uneasy."

"A-Alright."

 _'A relationship with Hayama Hayato from my class... bad blood perhaps? Or was it something else...?'_ The blonde pondered to himself. _'Hayama has direct ties to the Yukinoshita's; that is confirmed. But it's not just from them being childhood friends... is it?'_

"Ne, ne, what are you doing, Naruto?"

At Yui's question, he swiftly shut off his thoughts, paying attention again to his homework. "I'm doing homework." was his listless response.

"Eh, homework?" Yui seemed surprised.

"...don't tell me you forgot already?"

"O-Oh yeah! Sciences and Geometry!" She forgot. "But, like, why are you doing them now instead of at home? It's called _home_ work after all."

 _'...is she insulting me?'_

Naruto closed his notebook, finally finished with the last batch of assignments. "I do them here because I don't want to be bothered with them later. I'd rather do things now rather than later, that way I'll suffer less."

Yui's eyes blinked like an owl. "Suffer less?"

"It means that Naruto-kun would not have to them later, thus burdening him with more work than what he already had initially." Explained the club president herself in Naruto's stead. "But I'm curious, Naruto-kun, what do you mean by you'll suffer less?"

Halfway from putting his books inside his bag, Naruto looked up to look at Yukino in the eyes.

"It's not suffering if you ask for it."

Yukino's eyes widened by a fraction upon hearing his answer, the warm mug on her hand suddenly felt cold to the touch. Soon, the senses returned to her again, only this time, she was answered. She leaned back on her chair, crossing her legs, placing her left leg above her right.

With fingers on her chin, she looked to be pondering Naruto's answer.

"But..." Yui's voice drew the two's attention, causing their eyes to turn to her. "If you're... burdened, then, it's still suffering, isn't it?"

Rather than resuming her thoughts from where she left, Yukino was more interested to hear what the whiskered blonde had to say. He who now had finished packing his book inside his bag, shrugged his broad shoulders.

"You don't have the right to call it 'suffering' if you brought it upon yourself. I would **not** allow an alcoholic to call his addiction as a form of suffering."

His composure was completely calm, much like the black haired princess sitting quietly nearby.

"But a person who has been blinded ever since their birth..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "I cannot say anything."

Yet there was this edge in his voice that carried out his message loud and clear.

"...I... eh..." unable to find any response, Yui could only lower her head.

Yukinoshita watched the exchange, unable to say anything herself. There was a weird air that had descended down into the club room, one that she was not familiar with. But if she had to compare it, it was similar to her past experience when she had to talk privately with her mother.

There was nothing but truth in his words and Yukinoshita could find herself agreeing with what he said. Just who was Naruto? He had been nothing more than a huge web of intrigue for her ever since their first meeting, despite her prior knowledge of his presence at school.

She shuddered to think what would happen should he meet a certain she devil from her family.

More than aware of the air he had brought down from his exchange with Yui, Naruto could only diffuse the situation by doing one thing. His chair made creaking sounds as he dragged it out, allowing for him to stand. With his bag slung over his shoulders, he turned his face towards the direction of the only exit in the room.

"...I'll excuse myself."

Those were the only words he uttered before he left the two girls alone inside the room.

"Are you sure that it was him?"

"Yes, chief. Naruto said that it was him."

Tsunade blurted out strings of endless curses, causing the Nara opposite of her to wince from some of the words she let out. Her fingers were busy massaging her head, recuperating from the initial headache that hit her when Shikamaru told her the news earlier today.

This follow up meeting was set up by her so she could talk more privately with the young handler. There were, undoubtedly, details that Shikamaru purposefully left out during the report session that was meant only for her.

"If..." She started. "If Uchiha Itachi is involved in this... we will have to completely rethink our entire plans, after throwing our current one into the trash, of course."

Shikamaru gazed pitifully at his boss. As much respect as he had for his seniors in the organization, the Chief had it hardest. "Hopefully, that wouldn't happen. My guys have had run-ins with several people from the Uchiha, so I share your pain, boss."

"It wouldn't be the same, Shikamaru." Tsunade breathed out through her teeth. "Itachi Uchiha is up there on our blacklist. Though his case differs greatly from our blonde merc, he's still as dangerous... if not more with his family's influence in Japan."

"Last time I check, the Uchiha Conglomerate was third when it came to influence." Shikamaru recalled, relaxing his standing form a little bit. "There's the Yukinoshita at the top, Senju at the second-" he did not miss his boss's glare. "-and finally the Uchiha themselves."

"...true." The director's voice was more subdued, for obvious reasons. "But even so, we will still be hindered a lot if he is to be a rust on our gears."

With the solemn way Tsunade ended her sentence, Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. "Boss, you're not suggesting..."

"What? No." Tsunade went wide eyed, reeling back from realizing the sheer ridiculousness of Shikamaru's conclusion. "No, hell no. No."

The pineapple haired boy relaxed visibly.

"I am not going to send a kill squad after Uchiha Itachi." she said, glaring at the boy. Leaning forward on her seat, she changed her demeanor. "Do you know the amount of shit we're going to be in if they found out that we so much as lay a hand on the Uchiha heir?"

"...I have an idea, but I'd rather not say."

Tsunade sighed. "...aside from monitoring him, there's nothing we can do." She shook off the tired expression from her face. "Shikamaru, assign someone from Jiraiya's people to spy on Uchiha Itachi."

"Wouldn't it be faster to tell him that yourself?" It might sound unprofessional, but Shikamaru could not help wonder.

"Hah." The busty woman scoffed. "That idiot's probably at a hostess club somewhere in Ginza as we speak."

Shikamaru could not say anything against that conclusion.

"Anyway, keep on monitoring things with Naruto." Tsunade fixed her position, letting her chin rest on the back of her palms. "The last thing we want is for him to go against us."

"...you're not suggesting that we get some leverage on him, are you?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Sure, let's threaten him with closing down every ramen shops in Japan if he won't cooperate, see how that'll work." she scoffed. "I may be cranky, but I'm not dumb, Shikamaru. I'm not ready to die at the hands of a war seasoned mercenary who's known for leading sieges all across the Baltic region."

"Well, interestingly, when we first met, Naruto specifically threate- _told_ me that he'd put us on top of his 'people I will hunt down' list with me being the first person he 'hunt'."

Tsunade looked at the boy incredulously. "And you didn't piss yourself after hearing that?"

Shikamaru looked away. "...good thing I went to the restroom moments before he arrived."

His master would always gruel him the importance of training. There was not one day in his mentoring period when Kakashi did not beat his ass to the ground. That one eyed psycho was a monster on the battlefield, and that same monster had turned him into something similar.

 _Suffer. Suffer more. Suffer even more. That way, you'll be ready for everything in life._

And Naruto suffered. He remembered the way Kakashi would always drag his unconscious body to the medical ward after every training session. If their training happened during one of their long term jobs, then Kakashi would be the one to stitch him.

The concept of 'easiness' or 'comfort' was not in Kakashi's dictionary. Everything that he did was anything but those two... but he was never careless. Even though Kakashi would stop at nothing to make his exercise a boot camp straight out of hell, the man would never stand there and let him suffer alone. During all those times, he would go through the same he did.

At one point, Naruto doubted that he had been given mercenary training at all and even brought that topic up with his master. And Kakashi confirmed.

What that man had been putting him through was not mercenary training, but something else entirely. Until now... he never did tell him what manner of training it was, other than the fact that it was one meant to test a person's endurance.

Whether there was a deeper meaning into it, Naruto was clueles.

"Whoa, there brother, take it easy on the punching bag. You'll rip it off its hinges."

Naruto's finishing blow did not connect with his faux stationary opponent. His body was sweating all over, and his muscle shirt could definitely go use some dry cleaning later. He watched as ten percent of the gym's customers were giving him intense looks.

Looked like he needed to tone down a little bit.

Backing off from the punching bag, he retreated to his post for a short break. He observed that everyone was more or less still giving him looks, but it was not in the same intensity as before.

"Say, son, those were some mean punches you threw there. What's on your mind?" Looking up, Naruto saw a large, dark skinned, buzz cut man approaching him wearing a sleeveless green muscle shirt and brown shorts.

Large was not an exaggeration. The man was around six feet tall with the body of a professional wrestler. His bicep was almost twice the size of Naruto's thighs and every skin visible on him seemed to possess muscle that could snap a person's neck like toothpick. But despite the intimidating build, the smile he had on his face seemed natural.

The large man approached the blonde, taking a seat on the empty bench press right beside the one where the blonde was sitting on.

Naruto wiped his face using a clean towel from his bag. "...just some thoughts about home." he replied in the same language that the man used when asking him.

"Hah, no one's ever vent off that hard. Especially when they're getting a little bit homesick." The taller man laughed. "So, anyway, what's on your mind?"

"It's about home, Terry." Naruto answered, twisting the cap off his water bottle.

"'zat so?" the other man murmured, eyes narrowing. "Say, you're from the States, ain'tchu? That's what you wrote on your registration form when you first applied here."

Naruto nodded, putting his bottle bag inside his bag after he finished his drink. "Yeah. And you too, if I'm not mistaken?"

Chuckling, Terry flexed his arms. "Yeah, that's right. Was born in '82, moved to Japan at '05. Been living here ever since, attended lectures at some third rate college, opened up this gym... then I got married to Chiaki." He snickered. "Le'mme tell ya', son, if you wanna find a girl here, make sure you don't scare their parents when you come to visit them. And get'cherself a stabler income too."

Naruto cracked a grin, and they shared a short laugh.

"...was thinking of... family." The blonde revealed, head cast downwards to the wooden floors of the establishment. "Got no clue where he's at right now. Could be dead for all I know."

"...your father?"

"...you can say that."

Terry leaned backwards, and at first, it was as if he was going to do some presses. But no. He sit back up again, smiling. "Then just wait for 'im, son. Family's tight, no matter how far apart y'all are, they'll always be there for you. I should know. Ma' was against me moving to Japan, but she still send me e-mails and stuffs from the post office."

The blonde allowed himself a chuckle. "I feel like this is his way of testing me. A part of me wanted to go out there and find him myself, but another wants to stay here and keep on doing what I'm doing since that's what he'd hoped to see."

"Well, son, when in doubt, you can always come here and give those punching bags a good beating." He reached sideways, slapping the blonde on his back, hard.

"...heh." Naruto flinched when the impact connected. "I'll keep that in mind, Mistah T."

"Don't mention it, ki-hey, just cuz' I'm black 'dat don't mean I'm a motherfucking Mistah T!"

Terry was the owner of the gym he frequented from time to time. He was a nice person and spoke Japanese very well. Naruto's first time here was not very relaxing and comfortable as now. He would find a quiet place and begin his work out and then leave when two hour was up.

One day, Terry approached him. The man spoke to him in Japanese, but he replied back in English. From that point, their relationship started with him being a frequent customer. Terry also got him to make a membership card. Terry praised him for knowing what he was doing at the gym, something the man did not seem to see much from high schoolers like him.

It was not surprising, Terry said. Most high school boys like come and go the gym so that they could gain a little bit of muscle to impress girls. Terry thought that while it was good to want to work, they were all doing it for the wrong reasons.

While Kakashi had this psuedo-make or break philosophy, Terry wanted people to work out not for the sake of impressing girls or things similar to that. He wanted people to be serious in working to improve themselves.

Naruto felt that he could respect a man like that. In this world where virtue and chivalry was no longer considered alive, Terry's view was the closest thing and most honest thing he could compare to that.

"Well I'll be going now. Gotta see how the others are doing, can't let'cha be the one improving on your own, now can ya'?"

They exchanged a wave, with Terry parting to oversee other people's training. Immediately, Naruto could hear the sound of Terry's booming voice as he scolded a guy for slacking off in Japanese.

"Hm?"

He felt vibration from his bag. Naturally, his hand reached inside to grab the instrument. Noticing the name displayed on his phone's screen, Naruto brought the device close to his ear.

"What is it?"

 **" _We have an assignment. Be ready, details will be sent shortly."_**

After the very short exchange, Naruto dropped his phone back into his bag. Standing up, he made his way towards the entrance, said goodbye to Terry, and then leaving the gym to return home.

Truth was often said to be stranger than fiction because fiction obliged to stuck to possibilities, while truth was not. But it also suggested how much more engaging real life could be than ideal, fictional tales. It was true.

Real life was much more engaging than fictional tales, but only because it forced people to engage in the first place. Unlike fairy tales where most endings tend to end with a happily ever after, real life was not so rewarding.

The sound of thumping coming from downstairs could be heard getting louder, to the point where the bedroom floors vibrated.

Muffled shouting could be heard. Two different voices, two different wavelengths. A loud cry was followed by the sound of glass breaking, no doubt she was going to have to buy a new glass with her own money tomorrow.

Even as the situation downstairs was slowly turning to that of a sinking ship, she continued to write away on the books as if nothing happened. From the lack of visible worry on her face, it was obvious that it was a normal day to day occurrence to her.

Humming, she solved the equation that would determine the value of x. She did it to ten other books earlier, so this was no problem. It took her no more than a few minutes to finish everything. She tidied up the mess she had made on her desk, stacking the books properly, putting them inside her school bag and then storing said bag away underneath her bed.

"Wouldn't want dad to throw them out away like last time."

After storing her school materials away, she walked up to her desk again.

"Where is it... where is it..." Her hands went through the many drawers, searching for something. Her eyes brightened when they found what they were searching for.

A rectangular purple tin container, no bigger than a shoe box, was kept shut with a small metal lock. They key was underneath the drawer, stuck in place with the help of a small tape. Unlocking it should not be a task, it's hiding the damn thing that's the real work. Her mother would not bother searching her room, but if she wasn't careful, she'd find out about the box.

After making quick work of the lock, she opened the lid to unveil the content. It contained most of her savings and other bits she considered important. Everything stored in the can were things that she thought her parents might take away from her.

Carefully, she took out a good sum of money, not exceeding a thousand yen. Dinner's not going to be served tonight either, so she had to eat out. Obviously, she could not let her parents know that she'd been eating out with money she had secretly kept, otherwise she wouldn't have to act so sneaky-deaky like.

Putting the bills in her wallet, she then locked the box once again, placing it on a different spot; this time behind her wardrobe. She proceeded to grab a change of clothes, but decided against it since her parents might just question her if she went out looking like someone who's going to spend her money.

So, she opted for her uniform. She brought another smaller bag with her, just in case.

Exiting the room, she made her way downstairs.

"It's your fault that we couldn't pay this month's rent! If you worked harder then you could've gotten that promotion!"

"Oh? So it's my fault? Who's the one who kept on wasting our savings on useless stuffs, huh? I work to bring food on our table, not to provide you with useless, expensive cosmetics!"

It was all white noise. At least, that was what her ears registered them as.

She called it selective ignorance. She had chosen to ignore her parents every time they were arguing like this, to the point where she could no longer hear them whenever they were arguing.

She walked for the door, but-

"Komachi! Where are you going!?" her father shouted, turning his anger against her.

Her foot stop dead on its track, before her body turned to face her parents. With a smile, she gestured towards the door. "I left something at school and need to get it back." she had to think of more reasons to bail, this one was getting too old.

"Okay... be back home before curfew, or else." this time, it was her mother. Woman was a mess with how wet her make up was...

"Yes."

With a lowered head, the girl resumed her walking. Putting on her shoes, she exited the place, closing the door back shut quickly. Once outside, she let out a breath of relief.

"Now... where's a good place to eat...?"

 **Sorry for the short chapter, but I feel like I'll burn my brain if I write anymore.**

 **Will update again.**

 **Maybe.**


	8. Guardian Angel

Forty minutes and fifty three seconds.

That was how long he had been waiting on top of this unfinished construction. After the gym he had no time to drop everything he was carrying, they handed him the tools he needed for the job and told him to carry his ass to some construction site, which was the one he was on currently.

The fifteenth floor of an unfinished building was pretty high and he would surely break more than one bone if he was to fall; if he did not worry about dying first.

Thinly gloved fingers began meticulously tinkering with the Gen II Schmidt Bender PMII scope, adjusting it according to their owner's zeroing needs. But with only a hundred yard to work with, he was pretty much golden. He fiddled around with the rest of the gun, eyeing every detail carefully.

"Seriously... how did they get this gun?" He wondered in a hushed voice, hoping that the microphone would not pick up his voice.

He was expecting a standard issue Remington 700 with stock specifications, not a fully customized one with a TAC-21 chassis system and extended ten rounds magazine **(1)**. Maybe his friends from Parabellum was not as unprepared as he thought...

" _CQ, this is CP, do you read me?"_

The earpiece buzzed, causing vibrations to tingle down his neck. He brushed off the feeling, reminded of how inter-comms work once again after being off the field for so long.

"CP, this is CQ. I hear you loud and clear." He responded, hands still strained on the sniper.

" _Good, we read you loud and clear from over here too. Man, this is news for me..."_

Naruto's eyes blinked. "You've never handled a mission before?" He thought Shikamaru had previous agents he was in charge of?

" _No, I've handled several, but not like this. It's usually Asuma's job to handle huge operations like this one... but since I'm your official handler while you're still with us, they let me do the honors... still doesn't sit right with me, though."_ Naruto could hear the boy grumbling from the other side of the comms.

Bringing one of his eye close to the scope, he surveyed the location before him.

A total of sixty thousand square feet warehouse compound, almost a half larger than a football field, was under the control and authority of LeafCorp. They purchased the entire compound to be used as their own personal warehouse to store the shipments they receive. With how business savvy his previous employers were, he assumed that the government had no power at whatever was happening inside that compound. Parabellum, however, dared the bastards.

" _Alright, let me go through this again."_ Shikamaru's voice bled through the earpiece, serious and devoid of his usual slothful antics. _"We sent an agent to infiltrate the compound and gather intel of what's inside. Intel consisting specific wares, or whatever it is that they have hidden under the cover of 'heavy machinery'."_

Heavy machinery... yeah, even he wouldn't buy it.

" _Unfortunately, we lost contact with our person and haven't managed to reestablish any link for the past four hours. We assumed the worst and have sent a four men team to search the compound."_

"Is this mission time sensitive?" Naruto asked, voice as listless as ever.

" _For you? No. For them, yes."_ Shikamaru sighed. _"Your job is to provide sniper fire when necessary, I will queue you in with the squad leader for this mission."_ there was a slight pause. _"Okay, patching you to him now."_

" _Hello? Can you read me?"_ This time, a deeper and rougher sounding voice bled through his comms. An older man, someone he had never heard before... probably in his mid forties.

"Crystal." Naruto replied frostily.

" _Good. We're about to infiltrate the compound to retrieve our agent. They go by the code name Sunshine, and you will refer to us as Ghost one through four, understood?"_

"Understood."

" _Excellent."_

There was a switch in intermission. _"CQ, we will hereby refer to you as Kilo for the duration of the operation, follow Ghost One's instructions and remember, failure is not an option."_

"Roger." came both reply from Naruto and Ghost One.

 _'When has it ever been...'_ He was used to being under pressure like this, though he had to admit, things were different this time. He rarely did rescue missions like this one back at LeafCorp, mostly because he was often tasked with spearheading invasions on countries somewhere in Eastern Europe or razing rebel militia bases to the ground in the deserts of the Middle East.

Urban combat was no problem for him, but this would be his first time being support for a response team.

Through his scope, he had a clear view of the entire compound. He might have to relocate and climb up a few levels above if he wanted to get a better view, but he'd stick to where he was at the moment. There were two entry points to the compound, the front and back gate. The front gate was tightly guard with LeafCorp guards, lightly armed with pistols but they could easily trigger the alarm if the Ghosts were spotted.

"Ghosts, what's your entry plan?"

" _We're cutting our way in,"_ replied the older man and from the sound of it, it seemed that they were on the move. _"We'll find a different exit though."_

Naruto – or Kilo now – did not reply. The back gate had more guards, but there were no vehicles coming in or out. No way for the Ghosts to slip through those unnoticed. _"Kilo, can you spot us on your scope?"_

"Where are you?"

" _East side of the fence, near the cars parked at the side of the road."_ The night was still young but Chiba was strangely quiet, almost as if everyone knew that they were going to do something like this. At Ghost One's information, he managed to spot them but barely. They were at the part of the street where there were no civilians, which was good because there was a very high civilian activity two blocks away from their AO.

LeafCorp chose the worst place to store their wares, at least, when spoken from a logistical point of view. It'd be more cost effective to purchase a warehouse near the harbor or port, as transport fee would be tremendously cut. But they had to choose one that was located in the middle of the city where civilian activity was the highest. Tactically speaking, they chose the correct place. It'd be hard for people like him and Parabellum to do anything, but with the correct timing and props, they should be able to send a few guys in there.

"I see you, Ghosts. Be advised that the fake construction roadblocks won't last longer, prop team was tasked to clean up and evacuate the location for the mission's duration." Shikamaru had teams of Parabellum operatives set up fake construction roadblocks around the perimeter, he was also smart enough to make it subtle, so that LeafCorp wouldn't caught on.

" _Copy that, Kilo."_

From his scope, he watched as the Ghosts made their way into the compound. They had to climb up the walls which was not a big deal seeing as they made it through, with the help of a ladder they specifically brought for the insertion, and they managed to cut through the wired fence using the help of bolt cutters. Once they were inside, they found cover behind some metal shipping containers; looked like they made it inside clean.

" _CP, we are in the compound. Proceeding with the objective now."_

" _Good work Ghosts."_ Shikamaru's voice was heard once again. _"Now, we don't have a clear position, but if Sunshine's previous records are consistent, we'd say that she managed to leave something behind as clue. Try searching warehouses one through three, those were her primary objectives and should narrow down your range of search."_

Whilst the Ghosts were busy searching through the warehouses, Naruto was scouting for possible exit points. The mission was sensitive, the Ghosts would need a quick exfil out of there without anything hindering them. Surprisingly, alarms were allowed. LeafCorp, despite being a huge company with/ recognizable identity, was very secretive. Everything that went wrong with them have been kept out of the public's eyes. Reporters were bribed and government officials could live off the bribes that LeafCorp gave them.

This was no different. Should anything happen, LeafCorp would try to contain the situation on their own, despite intervention from local officials. His previous employer was everything if not convincing, and politicians were all the same no matter where. Still, Parabellum wouldn't want to have LeafCorp sniffing them out so soon, so it was stressed by command that stealth is a must.

But, if you ask him, seeing as how they were about to rescue one of their agents from LeafCorp, LeafCorp had probably learned a few things about Parabellum.

A hard exfil should be possible, even if he should be prioritizing a quiet one. The front gate had lightly armed guard; the Ghosts could bust through them in a car and rendezvous with a pick up team in the highway, even he knew that LeafCorp wouldn't be crazy enough to engage in a high speed car chase all the way out of Wakaba Ward and on to the next one.

While he was in deep thought, his radio buzzed.

" _Kilo, we're in warehouse three we checked one and two and found nothing except for legitimate heavy construction machinery."_ From the sound of it, Ghost One was tired.

"Nothing? Not even clues from Sunshine?"

" _No. They did a good job of covering their operations here, those inspections the government did gave them the clear after all."_

"What about your exfil, what do you plan to do?"

" _We will make our way opposite of where we came from and cut our way out of here along with our objective."_ responded the man. _"Why? Any better alternatives?"_

"None that doesn't involve killing."

" _We'll stick with our initial plan, if you can't give any better ideas then don't say anything."_ Ghost One cut the line aggressively. From the sound alone, it was obvious that he was sensitive with the thought of taking lives.

Seeing as there was nothing for him to say, Naruto remained on watch.

* * *

"..."

"Still not talking, huh? Guess we'll just have to do this the hard way then."

She did not know why she picked up this job.

Two months ago, she was just a normal high school girl attending one of Japan's most prestigious women's high school. Not only was she the top of her school, she was also a model student to her classmates. She received so many trophies and awards from winning nationals competitions that have had anything to do with academics and the likes...

...but now, she's being interrogated in one of the most secured places in Japan.

It's not even a prison too.

"I-I... don't know anything else..."

Her answer only served as fuel for her questioner's rage. She felt him pick up the clipboard from the table, before eventually feeling the damn thing as it was used to slap her right across her face. Despite the blindfold, she could tell that the man was making a face that would make children cry, hell, she knew she did.

He saw her fell on the floor from the hit he delivered, yelping and screaming, followed by sniffling and whimpers. He clicked his tongue. In a fit, he kicked away his chair, causing it to crash to the nearby wall, drawing out a terrified scream from the girl.

He stomped towards her, kneeling down, roughly pulling down the folds covering her eyes. He sneered at her, looking straight at her eyes.

"Now that I think about it... you don't look like you're in your eighteens yet." He pointed out with crass. "Sure your tits and bums might've worked on the jarheads outside but they won't work on me."

"Kyaa!"

He pulled his feet back, letting it loose to connect the edge of his shoe to her chin, causing the girl to whip her head back. The smell of iron filled the air, causing the man to grin. "Heh, but you bitches sure do bleed the same." He crouched once again, cornering her to the wall.

"Last question... who sent you? And I want names."

No words could describe how afraid she was. She was captured, hurt and currently in the process of being interrogated. Despite it all, she knew the risk of this whole operation and now, she had only herself to blame. Her disheveled locks were making a mess of her otherwise sweet looking face and said face was only showing one expression, fear.

"I... I..." her words and body would not stop quivering. It took her so long to give an answer, she feared he might try and hit her again. But despite it, she kept a firm grasp of her objective. "I won't... tell."

"Oho?" A vein pulsed on the interrogator's forehead and the way his eyes widened showed nothing but amused annoyance.

"Finally have the guts to talk to me, don't we? Say, why don't we go back to what really matters here, huh? Obviously, I wanna know who sent you. And you – or your people – wanna know more about us. But obviously, I can't let the second thing happen, SO YOU HAVE NO FUCKING CHOICE BUT TO TELL ME WHO SENT YOU, YOU USELESS IMBECILE BITCH!"

His knee connected to her face, causing it to whiplash against the wall. Once her face made contact, it made a sound similar to brick being dropped down from a two storied building for it to crash on a cement pavement. Her face slid down the wall, bleeding and she was no longer conscious.

After realizing what he had done, and getting the whole thing out of his system, he let out one bellowing scream that vented nothing but his bottled frustrations and anger that had been pent up for weeks. He trashed the table, letting papers and files scatter everywhere in the room leaving almost no hint of the floor left. It was a fist to the wall that ended his fury, only because the pain did it for him.

"Damn that bastard Minato... I told him that we should've bagged _Fox_ months ago... now there's no doubt that he's in cahoots with whoever this bitch's working for." He spat, clicking his teeth, before sending another slam to the wall. "Fucking hell!"

In a slight fit, he opened the door to the room. "Hey, you three get over here!" He practically commanded with his booming voice. Quickly enough, three armed LeafCorp guards appeared before him, fully geared with load bearing vests, utility belts, automatic weapons and communication pieces on their persons. "I want the three of you to guard this room and make sure that she doesn't get out. And put that bitch back on the chair, for the love of god."

"Yes, Koyama-san."

After ordering those men on what to do, he walked off the scene, irritation still evident on his face. He made his way out of the sector and upstairs, a level higher. The entire compound had been refurbished with a completely functional underground sector enough to make it a small base, which it kind of was at the moment.

Their official headquarters may be a place for the pencil pushers to do their jobs and get paid their monthly salary, but this place was where they run their field operations. Everything from undercover work, spying for intel and the similar sorts were relayed over here rather than their main HQ.

He would have liked it if that bastard Minato would've given him more authority, but he had to deal with monitoring everything that goes in and out of this damned compound. On the topside, it may look like a very large warehouse compound with pretty tight security, but it was actually a cover for LeafCorps's base of operations.

The government did not ask much because they made it clear that everything looked perfectly normal up there.

And they intend to keep it that way.

* * *

" _We found something."_

Naruto's eyes snapped from being listless to watchful attention when he heard Ghost One's voice exclaim quietly from the other end of the communication. He had his scope on the warehouse the Ghosts were in currently, watching for wandering guards that may stumble upon the place in the middle of their patrol.

" _What is it?"_ Shikamaru had connected them to the same frequency, this way, it would make communication much easier for all of them.

" _An audio player playing at a very low frequency... Ghost three just barely caught it playing."_

Naruto narrowed his eyes. _'These guys operate more complexly than I thought...'_

" _Very good, does it relay anything about Sunshine's current situation?"_

" _Wait, hold on a moment... it's taking a while for our guy to set it right to the correct frequency."_ Exactly eight seconds later, Ghost One replied again, _"We've got something."_

" _Patch it through us, we'll hear it."_

" _Roger."_

The familiar sound of audio getting clipped and repasted was heard, there was nothing but silence for several seconds, but everyone heard something after it.

" _...if... you... lack... heaven... find... earth..."_

Naruto could only wait for his Parabellum friends to speak since he had no clue what that was about. It was in Japanese, he knew that much.

"This code..." Ghost One sounded hopeful.

" _Yeah... she's alive."_ Shikamaru, on the other hand, was openly relieved judging by the sigh he let out. _"Ghosts, Sunshine is still alive, we have confirmation. All that's left now is to-_

"Contact, door."

Naruto's sudden interruption caused the Ghosts inside the warehouse to snap into attention. From his scope, he could see a patrolling guard approaching the warehouse the Ghosts were currently in. The guard, unfortunately, was curious enough to step into the unknowingly occupied warehouse. From his spot, Naruto did what he had to do.

His finger squeezed lightly on the trigger, causing a reaction within the mechanism of the gun. A .338 Lapua Magnum was not a small bullet. In fact, it's one of the biggest calibers one could fit into a sniper rifle. Following simple logic, and physics, the bigger the bullet, the bigger the damage. But in the end, it all boiled down to the marksman's skill in using the gun.

And Naruto was one hell of a marksman.

The bullet soared the air, aerodynamics taking work and all. He took into account every variables that could affect his shot; wind, distance, height... all that was left was to wait for the impact itself to happen. And it did.

"Heart shot." His voice whispered through the open communication channel.

He cocked the cocking handle of the rifle back, before pushing it forward to load another bullet into the chamber. From his scope, he watched the result of his handy work. The guard he shot was not wearing any form of body protection, so the bullet went cleanly through the back of his chest, causing blood to burst from the exit wound. The body of the soon-to-be dead man fell down to his knees, just the usual charade before his body went limp, and when he did go limp, he was already dead.

"Target neutralized." The blonde's voiced droned monotonously.

" _...kill confirmed."_ Ghost One's voice echoed through the earpiece. Naruto saw the Ghosts dragging the corpse away, hiding them behind an unused shipping container. _"This will be the only kill we make, Kilo."_

"...noted."

" _Ghosts? How's the situation?"_

" _Everything is clear.. one hostile neutralized. We're going to trace Sunshine's emergency locator now."_

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You have chips installed into your men?"

" _We do. But it's all conditional, I assure you..."_ Shikamaru said.

Naruto shook his head, as if Shikamaru could see him. "No, what I meant was, why not do that from the beginning?"

" _We can't. If we do that, we're afraid that LeafCorp will find out about it. The tech we're using is one of the older stuffs, could easily be picked up with normal day to day electronics... if we activated Sunshine's locator before confirming her presence, then we'll risk of being traced back."_

LeafCorp was certainly capable of doing that... trust him, he had seen crazier things on the field. Opening car doors via remote control satellite, tapping into phone lines using SIGINT, hijacking a commercial plane's auto-pilot remotely... now those were sci-fi, except for that last one, that's just plain scary.

Or should he say... _plane_ scary?

Naruto saw the Ghosts disappearing behind a small building. The building was two stories tall, light up and looked like a command post if the guards patrolling the perimeter were any indicator.

"Ghost be advised, I have zero visuals on you."

" _Copy that, Ghost is following the signal into the building."_

Hearing that, Naruto felt something. Something uncomfortable. Call him paranoid or something but that was too easy. They couldn't have possibly locked her up in a measly building like that, right? There had got to be something...

Taking his eyes from the scope of his rifle, Naruto said to himself,

"I need higher ground."

* * *

"Mister Chairman sir, how are you over there?"

The interior of his office had not changed much, aside from the additional projector machine peeking out from a mechanism installed on the ceiling. The lighting was minimized, allowing only the dimmest of line to shine so that the live feed could be projected clearly on the wall-screen. He stood in front of his desk, his height barely tall enough to hinder the projection, it could if his hair was any spikier and longer.

The projected feed showed nothing aside from a blank, black screen with a featureless avatar. The words 'sound only' were shown below the avatar in brackets.

" _Minato... I thought we agreed on a more... reasonable time?"_ An older, gruffer and clearly annoyed voice was heard speaking through the speakers placed strategically around the room. _"Dubai is not New York, son."_

Minato laughed, his hand rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "My apologies, Chairman, it seems that matters here have _proceeded_ far quicker than I expected." His eyes glazed over the digital clock display on the corner of the screen.

01:45.

Or 8:45 in Dubai.

 _'Old man needs his sleep...'_ Minato's thought was only for his knowledge.

" _Is that so? Very well, I'll excuse it for now."_

"Thank you, Chairman, sir." The blonde said in a grateful and thankful manner. "It's regarding Kakashi, sir."

" _Hatake? What about him? I thought that everything regarding that man would take at least three more months to dig out?"_

"Not quite, sir. We have word about an activity in the South East of Asia that involved the kidnapping of one of their countries' upper echelons member."

" _And you think that Hatake is involved how?"_

Minato sucked in air. "The person kidnapped was one of LeafCorp's few contacts in the South East of Asia, sir." The blonde haired Branch Director momentarily pulled out three pronged dagger-like knife from his suit's inner pocket. He proceeded to play around with the dagger, twirling it by the O-ring and such.

"His name is Reza Ferdinand, he works... or _worked_ in the Indonesian Ministry of Defense and was our informant within the force. His disappearance was suspicious because it was done exactly a week before our planned meeting with the Indonesians. I have looked at the police reports myself and everything reeked of Kakashi's handiwork."

" _...I trust that you have mobilized men for investigation?"_ the question came delayed, but the importance was there.

"Of course." He threw the dagger into the air, turning his body ninety degree to the right, before he caught the dagger by the ring using the same pointer finger he used to spin it. "I have sent operatives to sniff for Kakashi's whereabouts... they'll search the entire country for clues. I'll even have them search the entire S.E.A area if it's necessary."

" _Good. Though I hope that you have the necessary resources planned and ready."_

"Certainly." Minato smiled, his pearly whites showing despite no one being there to see it.

" _This news will change our involvement in Asia, Minato. If Kakashi is allowed time and room, he'll be leaving behind death traps for our men to step on, please be careful on handling him. The last thing I want is chaos in those countries, which we have little to no influence at, and have us discovered."_

"Of course, sir."

" _...is that all for tonight, Minato?"_

He opened his mouth.

"There is... one more thing, sir."

" _What is it?"_

"...it's about Kakashi's protege."

" _Him? What about him?"_

"...it seems that he's made a few _friends_ with the locals here." His lips was as thin as paper. "For now, they are not a huge threat. But if allowed more time..."

" _You know what to do, Minato. I leave Japan into your capable hands."_

"...yes, of course."

The projector turned off, rising back up to its storage compartment inside the ceiling. The lights returned, lighting up the room once more, bringing visibility back seeing as how it was pitch black outside. The blonde man released a long sigh, as he walked to his chair. Having pocketed the knife back inside his coat, he took a seat on the leather swivel chair with his back fully resting on the back rest.

His eyes were fixed to the ceiling, but staring at nothing in particular. He had been in this business for a very long time... longer than Kakashi himself. But... no matter how long it had been, he could never get used to the things he deal with on the daily. The managerial tasks and politics he could handle. But when things went haywire like Kakashi and Naruto's case? That's when he started hitting the pills.

Especially Naruto.

He was Kakashi's protege, his student and only pupil. He inherited Kakashi's skills, knowledge and even personality to some degree. Minato was no stranger to seeing children taking up arms; he'd seen one too many, but when they took Naruto into the company, he knew that something was different with that boy.

He had never seen someone so quick to learn. LeafCorp tried doing the mentorship approach to training, but all of Kakashi's previous students, who were around Minato's age, either gave up or broke before they could even be considered mission ready. But, one day, a kid no older than six or seven managed to keep up with the man himself.

It was horrifying to watch, honestly.

Military tradition always implement a 'make or break' kind of mindset into the recruits' mind. Either they become skilled soldiers, or broken failures. If that's the case, then the kid known as Naruto was a skilled soldier.

At an age countable only with his two hands, he'd seen the boy charged through the bloodiest of battlefields that have broke men three times the boy's age. The way he fought... the way he decimated enemy fighters... was systematic to say the least; exactly like Kakashi. Naruto dispatched his foes quickly without second thoughts and only did necessary things. He, along with his master, rarely called for back up and always chose to act first before the rest.

Years ago when they were still very active in the Middle East, months after Naruto's mentorship with Kakashi began, a bloody battle happened between LeafCorp operatives and the local insurgent forces. They weren't Taliban or any part of radical religious organization, but their desire to kill those who weren't them was as clear as crystal.

The insurgents had attacked LeafCorp's many operational bases in the area and he was there supervising activities. One day, the base he was on was attacked by numerous insurgents. They were armed with weapons too advanced for them and maybe some they managed to scour from the bases they destroyed. Bottom line was, Minato felt like he was going to die that very day. Defenses were crumbling and LeafCorp's air group was not there to give air support. Reinforcements could not mobilize in time and, honestly speaking, he was ready to die there and then.

But from the east, a lone heli flew right into the assault, dropping off two men, one shorter than the other. The chopper didn't even landed, they basically jumped off the damned bird while it was ten feet in the air.

And the moment they touched the desert sand, the battle changed.

To Minato, it was like watching two identical clones mowing a field of grass, only the grass was enemy soldiers.

Every shot fired caused collateral damage that could only be done by a group of at least five regular men or so.

They turned armored vehicles into useless heeps of junk.

And for every enemy Kakashi fell, more were fell by Naruto.

Needless to say, the insurgent forces were decimated; none were left alive. Being the only superior officer... alive during that time, those two reported back to him. Kakashi apologized for being late, making up an excuse about having to help a LeafCorp freighter ship fend off pirates armed with a Little Bird and rocket launchers while Naruto was quiet through the whole thing.

Cleaning up was easy, and before he knew it, LeafCorp had already made a firm standing in the Middle East. Minato watched as Kakashi trained the smaller blonde in the scorching heat of the desert, put the kid through things that could rival any spec ops training and things got harder by the day after.

Naruto was a natural in the desert. It was as if he was in his 'element'. If he recalled correctly, even Kakashi himself said the kid knew more than him when it comes to desert warfare.

Then when they brought him to Siberia, things only got bloodier. And before they knew it, he was already leading a squad of his own and considered to be the second deadliest man alive on earth next to Kakashi.

Funny thing was, he wasn't even a man yet during that time.

"I need to stop reminiscing about these things..." Minato pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling pain aching on his head.

 **BEEP BEEP**

The locally made intercom receiver sitting on the middle edge corner of his desk went off, making beeping noises which he found insufferable and annoying.

Weakly, his finger pressed the flashing red button in the intercom.

"Yes?" his voice called out, reflecting the way he pushed the button.

" _Sir, they've made their move."_

"...execute plan E."

" _Roger that, sir."_

In a lazy but efficient manner, Minato swiveled his chair so that he could face the window behind him, taking on the view of the pitch dark night lighted up by the tall and gleaming skyscrapers of Chiba.

"Let's see how you deal with _domestic adversity_ , Naruto-kun." Using his other hand, he reached into his pants' pocket, pulling out a thin smartphone.

Pressing quick dial, he began engaging in a phone call.

"Koyama, bring her out... don't question me, Koyama. It's time for the plan. Take her up topside and make sure that everything's in place... no, stay away from Fox, we still have plans for him... I do not tolerate insubordination, Koyama."

His tone gradually showed a threatening edge as the conversation was going on, however, his feature remained neutral.

"I'll leave everything in your care over there, Koyama. And remember, no compromise."

With a tap of the screen, the conversation ended just like that.

* * *

" _CP, we've yet to find Sunshine despite following her chip's signal."_

Shikamaru did not reply instantly, as a hum could be heard from the discreet line. "Where is your exact position, Ghost?"

" _We're in a building adjacent to the warehouses. We've tracked Sunshine's locator signal all the way inside, but we're not seeing anyone or anything but empty office rooms."_

" _Suspicious. Ghosts, are you sure that the signal's from over there?"_

" _Positive CP."_

Throughout all this time, Naruto had been quiet. He was overseeing the rest of the activities throughout the compound. So far, no sudden shift in patrol from the guards. No vehicles coming in or going out of the compound. Everything seemed untouched, almost as if they did not know that they were there. He hovered his vision over to the building that the Ghosts entered and he noticed that the lights were on. Which made it even more suspicious, naturally.

Literally no one had been there or nearby for the past long minutes. Not even patrol. This all was giving him a bad vibe... a red herring bad kind of vibe.

" _CP, this is Ghost."_ Naruto perked up.

" _Come in, Ghost."_

" _We've found something in one of the rooms... Ghost Three thought it looked important and insisted on checking it out."_ From their place, both Naruto and Shikamaru were metaphorically at the edge of their seats.

" _What is it?"_ asked Shikamaru.

" _It's a-"_

It was very sudden. He could not even anticipate it, but the thought of something bad happening did occur before. He was sure that Shikamaru suspected something too; he must've. What they both didn't expect, however, was for the entire dang building to explode. Windows were blast open from the inside, bringing out sharpnel of glass and debris outside. It took no more than mere seconds for the small office building to collapse; bringing up dust into the air.

LeafCorp operatives scattered throughout the compound were already bustling towards the incident. Naruto did not know whether they knew that was supposed to happen or what, but he knew that he had to do soemthing.

" _Ghosts? Ghosts! Do you read me?!"_

"Shikamaru, they exploded the building." Naruto spoke through the comms, while eyes fixed to his scope. "We lost Ghosts."

" _Dammit! Extract ASAP, Naruto. We can't lose you."_

"What about Sunshine?" His crosshairs were fixed to the leg of a LeafCorp operative posted nearby the wreck, currently shouting orders for his subordinates to follow.

" _...shit, you're more important. We'll do something about it tomorrow, for no-"_

"Hold it."

His switched his sights, aimed at something else entirely.

Peerless, long black hair glistened underneath the moonlight. His eyes might be playing tricks on him, so he double checked to make sure that that was not the case. After making sure, he was now certain that they were not playing tricks on him. Behind warehouse three, was a female figure dressed in a messy office attire, and her state of clothing was what drew Naruto's attention.

She was making hasty peeks behind the corner of the warehouse, amateurly waiting and watching with fear of being caught.

In his trance of discovering the a flower in a midst of chaos, he broke the glass of silence.

"CP, is Sunshine a black haired female?"

" _Yes! You found her? How?"_

"I see her." He kept her under his sight. "I'll watch over her, CP, she's trying to make an escape."

" _Do it! I'll dispatch the pick up crew at our exfil point! You'll need to make sure that Sunshine finds the safest and quickest way as soon as possible, cops will be swarming the place very soon!"_

That was the moment Naruto tuned out Shikamaru's orders. He breathed in, releasing the breath afterwards. He aimed his sights over to his objective, finger hovering around the trigger. He muttered,

"...I ain't no guardian angel... so you better know what you're doing." **(2)**

* * *

"Haa... haa... I _don't_ know what I'm doing..."

She did not know what happened. Being bound to a chair with her entire body hurting all over tend to make people miss all the important thing. Like, why were the guards suddenly running or why was there a siren going off? She did not eve know how she managed to escape. Perhaps her _'questioner's'_ treatment on her caused the rope to go loose at some point...

Either way, that was no longer important.

She got her chance; and she had better use it well. Now.

"Uuu... I should have taken Asuma-taichou's field awareness training more seriously..." despite not cursing, she showed her frustration rather visibly. It was obvious, really.

The ragged clothing, looks and just overall appearance in general screamed of plight. Whatever faint hint of makeup she wore was no longer visible, leaving behind messy aftermaths that would even irk the most simple of women. She ditched her high heels the moment they dragged her to that room; she should not have worn them tonight.

Despite the chaotic situation around her, she soldiered through the mass confusion. She bravely crossed over to the warehouse opposite of her, the same one where she dropped her distress call beacon (it was more like a micro-chip) and the place where they apprehended her.

It was supposed to be an easy mission.

She were to infiltrate the compound as a government's inspection officer. They had everything set up. The paperwork, countermeasures for being exposed, alibis... everything, but due to a small and very minor mistake from her, the whole plan was ruined.

"Check the perimeter! And tell the others to proceed as planned!" A squad of guards ran past the road before her; thankfully, she was outside of their focus and the situation helped her by a lot. Once they were gone, she moved quickly to change location, advancing at one direction, taking in the routes with most covers.

 _'Plan? They knew this would happen?!'_ She felt her stomach sink in. _'Oh no... the organization...!'_

In the midst of her running and worrying, she was clumsy and careless enough to not look around her surrounding. The sound of her bare feet hitting the damp ground attracted the attention of a guard who was nearby scouting the perimeter.

"Who's there!?" He twisted his body, a handgun in his hands. Said gun was now pointed at the escapee, who had a 'deer on headlights' dilemma brought down upon her. "You're the damn spy we caught! How did you escape?!"

Without even waiting for her to answer, he rushed forward to apprehend her. She could not move, for she knew that bullets move faster than humans do.

This was it, she thought to herself. She was going to get captured again. With both hands in the air, she could not do anything as the man moved to arrest her. On a normal day, she could deal with an offender; but after what she had been through, she lacked both the will and stamina needed to fight back.

"Don't move an inch you spying bi-GAAAH!"

About two feet before her, the man dropped to the ground; blood gushing out of his legs.

* * *

"Leg shot confirmed."

* * *

"GAAAAH! W...Wha...?! W-Who...?"

Then, his chest erupted sideways, as if a miniature bomb was detonated from within his body.

* * *

"Heart shot confirmed."

* * *

And as if that was not enough, his head, finally, exploded.

* * *

"Head shot. Confirmed."

* * *

The man's... corpse fell limp to the ground, bleeding all over. The ground was like a pond made of blood... everything was red and chunks of flesh and tissue matter were scattered all around. She was frozen stiff, as if she was still being held at gun point. Her body went cold and she could not look at anything else other than the mess in front of her. She saw the way his face contort from anger and surprise into hellish pain and then the brutal end he had received!

Her stiff body shivered, but at the same time, she still could not move.

"Hey! I heard sounds from over there, check that out!"

The screaming of orders was what gave life back to her paralyzed limbs. She limped forward, clumsily avoiding the aftermath left behind by her guardian angel, before running straight on, far away from everything behind her.

 _'W-Who...?! D-Did HQ sent backup?!'_ She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, stopping carefully when she thought that she was about to stumble into unwanted company.

That was definitely a sniper fire. No mistakes. The aftermath of those shots were devastating.

 _'Bullets must be a .338... no mistake.'_ Now determined after knowing that she had sniper support, she quickened her pace. From where she was at, she could see the compound's wall. But she was not anywhere near an exit and it seemed that she was in a busier section of the compound, judging by the sound of people shouting. Then, she heard something.

"Police sirens..." She mentally cursed. Now she needed to escape. She could not afford to be caught in any of this, much less here.

Peeking, she had her form stuck behind a park Toyota Hilux; one of the vehicles used to transport materials. From where she was at, the front entrance was closer, but that was not an option.

"The walls looked low enough for me too climb..." with a strategy in mind, she began to move. Carefully, she made her way to the wall. She had no idea at which cardinal direction she was in, but as long as she could find something to help her climb the wall, she should be able to escape to the streets outside.

"C'mon... c'mon... yes this might work...!"

A trolley filled with empty wooden crates was placed next to a white LeafCorp van. From that point, she let logic do its work. Carefully removing the first two crates on the trolley, she used them to aid her climb on top of the van. With slight struggling, she managed to get on the van.

"Hey! There she is!"

"Where?!"

"Over there! On top of that van!"

"Don't let her get away!"

"Shit!" She cursed, dropping flat on the roof of the van. _'Someone...! Please!'_

* * *

He saw at least five LeafCorp guards and they were less then sixty meters from Sunshine.

"Shit." Despite cursing, he quickly acted.

Ten rounds inside his magazine, he had twice the bullets necessary to drop down his ally's offenders. But he could only shoot three of them before the rest scamper off to find cover and retaliate. He should not worry about them shooting her, since they were not armed with long ranged weapons, but he still needed to make his shot count.

So, he began with the first. He squeezed the trigger, letting his gun went off, launching a bullet at high velocity. The guy at the other end of his scope had a portion of his shoulder blasted off, effectively putting him down. In the same breath, he set off the second person, this time hitting him square on the chest. The bullet ripped through him, spraying blood on the ground. Then the final one was a little bit more anticlimactic, with how it landed in the same manner as the person before.

"Haaah...!" He released the breath he hold after making those three consecutive shots. Like he predicted, the remaining two scampered off to cover but the time he had bought for the lady was used wisely, as she was already jumping over the wall.

"Shikamaru! Sunshine's out of the compound!" Naruto made the call as soon as he saw her land on the streets outside. Thankfully, the police were crowding the front and back entrance of the compound.

" _Really?! Where is she heading?!"_

"She's heading towards the alley." He squinted his eyes. "Looks like she's trying to make it towards the city."

" _Great! We'll have our team search around for her later. Sunshine's smart, she'll find a way to contact us while staying out of trouble! Now get your ass out of there, Kilo!"_

Naruto's focus was not applied to Shikamaru's order. His eyes were drawn to the single, speeding pick up truck driving away to the side of the road where Sunshine escaped from.

"Shit, they have a truck after her!"

" _Do something, Kilo!"_ Shikamaru's voice screamed through his earpiece.

But Shikamaru did not need to scream, because he was already on it. With his good eye fixed to the scope, he watched as the truck's speed climbed. He had his scope sighted on the general area of the driver's window, then he pulled the trigger. From his spot, he watched as the truck swerve and screeched out of control, hitting a curb, before tumbling on the walkway, creating one hell of a mess for the street cleaners to clean later today. Smoke started to appear from within the hood of the truck; the authorities were definitely going to be there within seconds.

"...truck disabled." Naruto voiced to Shikamaru, relieved himself.

" _Good work, now go. Go to the designated regroup zone."_

"Alright."

He lifted his rifle, and began to pack away, leaving nothing behind as if he was never there to begin with.

This was so going to be on the news later today...

* * *

"Where is she?"

"She's in the medical ward, receiving treatment from Haruno, ma'am."

"Good."

If one was to thinks he was relieved after releasing a sigh like that, then they were right. She was relieved. What happened earlier this morning could have been way messier, but things were manageable and her people were already working on altering the media.

"She's okay, Hime, no need to look so worried."

She fought back the urge to slug her long time friend and business partner on the face, introducing him to the wall. "I just can't calm down after what had just happened this morning, Jiraiya. We lost one of our assault teams. Ghosts, to be exact."

Her friend sighed. "I know, Hime. But if we're all stressed out, then who will be there to think when shit finally gets out of hand?" He was accompanying her to the medical ward, explaining why he was tagging around. "Anyway, just cool down and keep a level head."

"I'll level _your_ head to the ground, you oaf."

They reached the medical ward, a sizable room with enough facilities to cater to what agents encounter in the fields. A familiar form of pink hair came into view, after the two most important people of Parabellum entered the room.

"Shishou, we managed to treat her wounds." Sakura reported tot he blonde woman, who was already by Sunshine's bedside. "She was... interrogated, Shishou."

"Explains the bruises then... and there's a fracture on her nose area, judging from the swelling." Tsunade muttered, taking a good look at the younger girl. Way younger girl. "Kid, talk to me. How do you feel?"

A pair of blank... eyes open, revealing not even a single pupil or irises to be seen. But the bags underneath those eyes told of her condition, so do the bruises. "Tired... Tsunade-sama... and..."

She winced, causing Tsunade and Sakura to react.

"Don't move, you have multiple swelling on you."

Tsunade hummed, the thinking look not disappearing from her face. "How did they discover you?"

"...the locator... it..." she could not say anymore, having been holding back the pain from all the bruises inflicted upon her; she fainted.

"Sakura, stabilize her!" Tsunade practically screamed out, closing whatever distance between her and the injured girl.

"On it!"

As the two medics began to work on the girl's condition, Jiraiya watched with mirth. LeafCorp knew they were coming. Meaning that they could no longer stick to the shadows anymore. There would come a time when they would have to engage them head on.

Being deep in thought caused him a delayed reaction when the door to the medical ward opened. A tall, bearded man walked in; dressed in business attire and he was followed by a sloppily dressed teenager in a pineapple hairdo who was followed by a tall blue eyed blonde teenager.

"She's unconscious? I thought she was-"

Asuma was not able to finish his words. "She passed out seconds ago. Tough girl; she went through all of that all by herself." Jiraiya muttered, eyes fixed on the scene of two trained medics attempting to stabilize their agent's condition along with the other medical staffs.

"Ahem," the two grown men turned to Shikamaru, who was standing near the door. "Don't forget our friend over here." He nudged his head to the blonde who was standing near him.

Jiraiya managed a small, gratuitous smirk. "Fine work there. They really trained you to be the best of the best huh? Just like Kakashi."

The blonde, who had his eyes closed all this time, finally opened them. "Correction." He started. "Kakashi trained me to be the best. Not LeafCorp."

Hearing that, Jiraiya shrugged. "Still, your skills did good for today, kid." He then looked somber, gaze shifting slightly to the floor. "It's unfortunate what happened to the Ghosts... but we can't always have good things happening to us all the time." He turned to look at the bedridden girl. "She's prove of that."

Shikamaru shook his head, scratching the back of his head with one of his hand. "Well, one thing's clear for sure. We're out of backstage now. LeafCorp will be expecting us on our future assignments, and they'll be more than ready next time."

"This situation cannot be repeated again." The normally smoking man said, tone heavy. "We need to train our agents even better from now on; prepare them for the worst. Hinata's case may be the first, but it certainly won't be the last for our agents."

Naruto's left eyebrow furrowed lightly. _'Hinata... so that's her name?'_ **(3)**

After minutes of professional medical work, Tsunade returned to join the men. She wiped a bead of sweat threatening to crash down one of her eyebrows with the sleeve of her blazer.

"She's okay... still unconscious, but okay." The woman stated. "The adrenaline must've went off and all the pain took one heck of a toll on her body." She sighed, before casting a look at her longtime friend. "Jiraiya, Hinata mentioned something about her locator being the reason she got made in there. Any conclusions why?"

"I don't know Hime." The kabuki-style man answered with nothing but clueless honesty. "Those things shouldn't be that easy to discover, despite being old tech-wise." The man directed his focus to the other blonde. "Kid, does LeafCorp posses any countermeasures for signal interference?"

Naruto shook his head as soon as he could. "None that I knew off. LeafCorp may be strict when it comes to security. But something like that would only interfere with some of the tech kept at our headquarters or bases." He then rolled his shoulders. "I don't know about now. Maybe they made a new set of doctrine after me and Master Kakashi left."

"That could be a possibility." Shikamaru drawled, stifling a huge yawn. "So that means our work is only gonna get harder from this point onwards. They know we're coming, that dwindles down our element of surprise."

"Not quite." Everyone talking before turned to Asuma. The chain smoker was scratching his chin, appearing in deep thought. "They won't know when or where we'll strike. That means we'll just have to find at the right place and time."

"Assuming they aren't prepared _all_ the time?" Shikamaru asked, playing devil's advocate.

"Still worth the shot, Shikamaru. At this point, we gotta make sure that every cut we make is a deep one. One that'll leave one hell of a mark."

Tsunade crossed her arms, looking like she was about to issue one last order. "It's almost daylight and the rest of us are busy with covering our tracks after what happened this morning. If LeafCorp's smart, they'd make a believable cover story to mask out the ongoing police investigation. So all that we can do is plan out our next move."

She paused, letting the words sink in, before continuing. "Shikamaru, Naruto." Both boys perked up and being mentioned. "I trust that your assignment on the Yukinoshita heiress was still ongoing?" She saw both boys nod. "Good. Make sure that you keep me updated about this one, Shikamaru. And Naruto, try not to get attached to anyone."

All she received was a glare, nothing more.

"Now, you're all dismissed." Parabellum's acting Director said. "Sakura, I want you to stay and monitor Hinata's condition. Inform me when she's awake."

"Yes, Shishou!"

What happened earlier today could be seen as a declaration of war. With how dangerous the streets of Tokyo already are due to organized crime group and the Ninkyo Dantai, Tsunade really hoped that the upper echelons would send more help from this point onwards.

* * *

"Whoa, Naruto, you look _totes_ terrible today! What happened?!"

He was tempted to chronologically recite the events that transpired this early morning to his pink haired classmate and clubmate, but his sense of reason prevented such stupidity from occurring. He knew that Yui was an expressive person, but did she have to say it out loud in the middle of class just before homeroom?

And, yes, she was correct, he looked terrible.

The bag underneath his eyes was a dead giveaway of his lack of sleep. It made his like all squinty and narrow, but despite it all, he still managed to keep himself awake.

Until lunch, at least.

"...not enough sleep." was the boy's only coherent reply. Anything more would be impossible, at least without yawning loudly and looking totally rude.

"Again?" the girl wondered. "If you really have problems sleeping, you should go see a doctor. Mama told me that it might inso... insomi... inso-"

"Insomnia." finished the blonde in a deadpanned manner.

"Yeah! That's the word! You might be having insomnia."

Intelligence and knowledge she might be lacking, but her concern was definitely present. Stretching his left arm sideways, Naruto shook his head. "Don't worry. This was all self inflicted... I don't have insomnia."

"Hm, self inflicted?"

"I was filling out paperwork." Naruto replied with perfect timing, making his words sound natural. "Since I'm an international student and all and my guardian is currently out of the country, I had to do them all by myself."

A look of understanding crossed Yui's face, her mouth forming an 'O'. "I see... j-just be sure to sleep properly, okay?" For some reason, she looked away, her hand cupping the lower part of her mouth.

Clueless, the blonde could only shrug his shoulders.

Class started like any other day. Homeroom was quick and brief, since their homeroom teacher got nothing important to say to them – assuming that woman even know what to say in the first place – and by the time lunch started, Naruto was already in the club room.

As usual, he was not alone when he reached the club room. Yukino was already there inside, busy with the tea brewer as he entered the room. Of course, their loudest member was not here yet because she had to tend to her circle of friends first; but like any other day, she would eventually come sooner or later.

"Good evening."

He could not reply to her greeting straight away, as he immediately plopped his upper body on the table before him as soon as he sat on his chair.

"Rough morning?" intoned the black haired club president, placing down a warm mug of freshly brewed tea in front of him for him to drink.

"You can say that." was his curt reply. Smelling the pleasant aroma of tea leaves near his vicinity, he raised his body and proceeded to grab a hold of the mug, taking small sips from it.

Tea helped in situations like this.

It's not too strong as coffee, but it was enough to keep him awake.

"Right. I take it that you like your tea?"

He nodded his head immediately. "Yes, I like it very much. It certainly helps me now."

He heard her giggle, hugging the tray she used to place the mugs on whenever she would serve tea. "I can see that."

The peaceful atmosphere was broken when the sliding door of the room was roughly opened. Both students' eyes were naturally drawn to the source of the disruption, but a pink haired girl with a yellow backpack was all they see.

"Yahallo!"

"Yuigahama-san, please knock." chided Yukino to the much, much louder girl.

"Ehehe... sorry about that, Yukinon." She had the decency to look sheepish as she walked into the room, after closing the door behind her. "Anyway, did you guys see the news this morning?"

Naruto felt himself getting less sleepy suddenly.

Placing a warm mug of tea on the table for Yui, Yukino replied, "Yes I did. It was surprising. An incident at a newly operated warehouse compound. It's not that far away from our school too."

"They say that it was a gas explosion." Yui said, taking her seat.

Gas explosion? That was the best they could've gone with?

"Indeed. It's worrying that incidents like this occurred, especially when the cause was something that could happen in a regular home." Yukino touched her chin, her head making that slight tilt whenever she was about to enter thinking mode. "I wonder what did they store in there..."

"Yeah..." Yui noticed the lack of response coming from the male of the group, causing her to focus on him. "So, did you see the news today, Naruto?"

The blonde's reply was delayed by several seconds. "Didn't see the news this morning... but some guys were talking about it on the lockers earlier." He did overhear two people talking about it on the way here.

Club activities pretty much went on like usual. And by that, he meant that Yui was running her mouth off to Yukinoshita who was stuck hearing everything she had to say. While the girls bond, he was busy looking things up in his laptop. He knew LeafCorp, which was why he wasn't going to read in too deep about them at the moment; he would let Parabellum deal with that. He was, however, searching an old privately kept database for anything related to his mentor.

Kakashi was a cryptic man. But his messages were even more cryptic. He was reading through past conversations that they had over e-mail (most of them were kept in a secured file inside his laptop) for clues. This was not reliable, since he could just be making a big deal of something minor, but anything goes at this point.

Before he knew it, club ended. He was about to pack and leave for the day, but their club president had other plans for today.

"Why don't we all go out and eat somewhere for today?"

"Oh! Great idea, Yukinon! There's this doughnut place that's pretty popular recently..."

Sighing, it seemed that he would have to sleep late again tonight. However he only had himself to blame, since he agreed to come with them. But what's the worse could happen? They were just going to get some doughnut, coffee and maybe help Yui review some (read:all) school works she did not get.

The trio made their way to the place Yui spoke of. Yui and Yukino were in front, chatting – with Yui doing most of the talking – while walking. The place was not far, as it was located in the shopping district a few blocks away from the school. He did not try to come to establishments like cafes or anything like that too much, since that would run him the risk of encountering unwanted company.

Yeah, eating with people certainly sounded better than eating alone in an empty house.

On their way there, they stopped by the edge of a curb, with a red light stopping all pedestrians from crossing as the road was heavy with incoming traffic. On the other side of the road, a group of middle school girls were also waiting for the light to turn green. It was not that hard to notice them, seeing as they were making a lot of noise.

They were laughing, chattering and giggling away as if they own the rights to the pavement they were on. There were around... five, seven girls? But out of all of them, one stood out the most. The one standing on the far right corner, near the edge of the curb carrying the most bags. Closer inspection would show that none of the seven girls were carrying any bags at all and that one girl was carrying eight bags in total.

Despite knowing what he was witnessing, Naruto kept silent. He watched the scene with listless eyes, as usual.

Honestly speaking, he could not really relate to the scene at all, seeing as he had never experienced something like that. But Yukino and Yui... their reaction was far more visible.

"Yukinon... she..."

"I know, Yuigahama-san." The way the words escaped Yukino's mouth surprised Naruto a little bit. Gone was the gentleness that was usually accompanied with witty remarks. She was angry, but she did not explode. Like a winter being contained inside a jar.

From where they were standing, they watched as one of the girls approached the lonesome girl, the pure definition of evil and wickedness plastered on her face as the rest of her troupe shared similar expressions. She approached her from behind, obviously making herself discreet by tip-toeing, before 'accidentally' bumping into her.

Let it be known that the girl was carrying quite a number of weight on her person, making her quite heavy. The bump was not a soft one, in fact, one might call it a straight out shove.

The light for pedestrian crossing was still red, which means that vehicles were still present on the road.

What happened next was simple physics. The girl carrying all those heavy bags fell to the road, fast.

Everyone watching, including the other middle school girls, had their heart at the edge of their tongue when they hear the loud, blaring horns of a large semi approaching from the road.

To the girl, she saw her life flashed before her very eyes. She could not recall anything worth recalling. All she saw were unwanted memories that caused her nothing but hardships.

To the bystanders, they were about to see a young girl get crushed by and incoming semi truck.

But for one blonde haired foreigner, he was already halfway across the street.

He practically leaped out of his earlier spot, dropping his bag. His legs covered great distances at the expense of the material of his pants. He reached out both hands, aimed towards the girl who was kneeling helplessly in the middle of the road. With all his strength, he wrapped his arms around the smaller girl and pushed the ground with his legs muscle, launching both himself and the girl away from harm's way. He managed to twist his body in mid-air, causing the both of them to skid and roll to the other side of the road.

"NARUTO!"

"NARUTO-KUN!"

He felt a very familiar sensation, heck, forget the pain, even the level of stupidity he felt was the same as back then!

He raised his head, arms still wrapped around the girl. The semi stopped, but the light already turned green. He saw two familiar form rushing towards him from the other side of the road, but the stinging sensation on the back of his head was making things harder for him.

"Ow, ow, ow... I can't believe this happened again..." he muttered. He seemed to have forgotten that he was not alone, because literally within his arms, was the girl he just rescued. "Are you okay?" He switched the way he presented himself, kneeling on one knee, with the girl in front of him. He felt something warm trickle down his forehead.

"Crap... better not stain my uniform..."

Komachi was confused. Why the hell was this guy complaining about staining his uniform after pulling a stunt like that?

"Naruto! Are you okay?!"

She saw a blur of pink and yellow rushing to the boy's side, she watched as the girl knelt down to the boy's level, examining his condition.

"Naruto-kun, I'm calling an amublance!"

To her right was another girl, this time, a true Japanese beauty with a black hair. She had her phone next to her ear, and it did not take long for her to request an ambulance.

She saw her friends were giving her fearful looks. Either they were afraid of what just happened or they were concerned about the amount of trouble they were seriously in now, she did not know.

"I'm fine, Yui." The blonde teen muttered, supporting his hand against the cement pavement to help him stand on his two feet.

"Y-Y-You're bleeding... no... t-this is..." To Komachi, the pink haired lady looked like she was about to have a nervous break down. Heck, she was bawling her eyes out already. "No... not again...!"

The blonde merely sighed, still with red liquid dripping from his head area. "I'm fine." He clasped both hands on the pink haired girl's shoulders. "See?" Then, he turned to look at her. "And she's fine too... right?"

Realizing that he was inquiring her, Komachi was snapped away from her confusion. "U-Uhm! Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." seeing him with blood still dripping from the back of his head made her worry. "B-But are you sure you're fine?"

He made a dry chuckle, one that emphasized the whisker-like markings on his cheeks. "Believe it... this wasn't the first time something like this happened to me..." Komachi saw his eyes subtly wander to the pink haired girl who... was now hugging him like a koala to a tree. "Hey, Yui, let me go, please, this is uncomfortable..."

"...yes... the street near the shopping district." it seemed that the other girl was done with the phone call. "Seriously! The emergency service these days... are you okay, Naruto-kun? You're still bleeding from your head, do you feel light headed?" Komachi could sense the worry in her words too. It wasn't as unrestrained as the pink haired girl's, but the way she immediately reached out to back of his head definitely proved otherwise.

"I'm fine." He said for like... the fourth time already? "And the ambulance wasn't necessary..."

"Nonsense." The black haired girl shouted in a contained voice. "You're hurt; bleeding. You need medical attention immediately. Something like that could cause an infection, contributing to more..."

"I'm fine." That was the fifth time now. "But..." he trailed off, obviously cluing to the girl who was clinging onto him as if her whole life depended on it. "Yeeeah, I could use some help with this."

Sighing, the black haired girl walked over, tapping the other girl on the shoulder. "Yuigahama-san, please let go of Naruto-kun. He needs to sit down."

But the girl wouldn't budge. Komachi watched in silent.

"Are ya' kids 'erkay o'er there?!" Their eyes, sans Yui, turned to the newcomer. A middle aged men dressed in an attire that practically screamed of his profession as a truck driver, made his way to them. Looking at the man, one could understand why he was sweating bullets. He nearly hit someone, after all.

"It's alright, sir." The bleeding blonde said to the truck driver, who was surprised that a foreigner could speak Japanese... if the widening of his eyes were any indication.

"'ah see... t'ank God... I thought 'mah job w's o'er..."

While the man was acting completely relieved that he was not about to lose his job, the injured blonde attempted to pry off the girl who was stuck to his body.

"Yui, let go, please..." he was uncomfortable, obviously. Komachi could see it on his face. "I need to treat my wounds..." his eyes wandered to the other side of the road. "Yukino-san, could you please retrieve my bag for me? I have a first aid kit inside..."

"Of course." while she ran off to retrieve his bag, he managed to get the pink haired girl to let go of him, though not completely.

He sat on the ground, and Komachi watched as the pink haired girl was still holding on to the sleeve of his blazer. Sniffing sounds were heard, and it took Komachi less than a second to figure out that it was the girl.

"Why are you crying, Yui?"

Komachi blinked. Did she hear him correctly?

"I... I... thought..." she hiccuped. "...that... y-you're..."

She saw no reaction coming from him! Why? His girlfriend was crying after seeing him get hurt for pulling a stunt – which did save her life – like that. Wasn't that obvious to him!?

"This... was careless of me." He admitted. "I could've made a safer landing, but I had to be careful of not hitting the other girls standing nearby."

Komachi was livid now. He was thinking about them? They almost killed her! And of course, they were not here anymore! Great!

"...j-j-just... don't... ever..." her voice was drowned in her tears; she was struggling to let the words out. "...ever..."

"Naruto-kun, I have your bag." Komachi made space for the black haired girl to join her friends. She watched as the blonde expertly treated his own injuries, applying alcohol swabs on the necessary locations. He offered her the same, but she told him that she wasn't injured.

Not long alter, the paramedics arrived. But seeing as the situation was already controlled, they had no choice but to return. Of course, she and the boy who saved her had to make a full report at the police station later. The two girls with the blonde boy were willing to act as witnesses.

Now all patched up, with a roll of gauze wrapped around his head, the blonde boy looked as good as new, despite the slight physical alteration.

"I-I'm sorry... I-I was careless and..." She was about to apologize, but someone stopped her.

It was the black haired Onee-san.

"Don't apologize." She said firmly, almost making her flinch. "We saw what happened. Those other girls were to blame."

Seeing where the topic of conversation was heading, Komachi felt uncomfortable. "N-No... it was my fau-"

"Hey, kid!" The outburst came from the pink haired girl who was in tears moments ago. "Y-You obviously got pushed by one of those girls! It's not your fault! Don't say that it's your fault... it isn't and don't you dare... _blame_ yourself!"

Her surprise was shared by both the blonde Onii-san and the black haired Onee-san. This was their first time seeing the pink haired girl explode like this.

With eyes still teary and red from her earlier sobbing, she was clutching on Komachi's shoulders, eyes looking straight into her own as if she was daring her to say that it was fault again.

Overwhelmed, Komachi could not say anything.

Naruto watched as Yui exploded into a verbal fit in front of them. This was the first time he saw her like this. It was... shocking to him, to say the least. Seeing as things were beginning to clear now that everything was resolved, he felt the need to take the scene elsewhere.

"Hey."

The girl he saved looked up.

"Why don't you join us for doughnuts."

It was not a question... and she had no reason to reject.

"Yeah... sure."

So, she might as well accept.

* * *

 **Huh, I'm still alive after all.**

 **First of all, sorry for the lack of important updates. I know I've been releasing snippets but I doubt that they are enough to sate your literature hunger. I'll begin dividing this A/N to parts so that explaining things would be easier.**

 **Absence: I've been preparing for my transfer to further my studies in a different country from the one I'm from. This meant that I had to meet people, attend foundations and all of that jazz that consumed my writing time. It was a hellish experience, now, I'm just glad that lessons already started, and they gave me this month's schedule, allowing me to fit in time for writing whenever I have free time.**

 **Progress: As you can see, this story's progress is kind'a slow. We're no where even half the first season, and seeing as how I will completely butcher canon for this particular story, I cannot promise quick progress as I have A LOT of things that I just wanna fit into this story. This means that you will see a lot of non-canon scenes and chapters, like this one. I'm sure that this will be a major turn off for most of you, so I'm expecting those views/reads to drop any time soon.**

 **Future of my fics: All I can say is that I will still be writing fanfiction. Maybe there'll be constant switches between this and Immortal, but I will still be writing stories and posting them here. As for older stories, I cannot say anything about them now, seeing as I have lost most of my muse for anything other than my NarutoXOregairu stories.**

 **Updates: I can't promise a scheduled updates, despite saying that I'll try to fit writing in my free time. The situation in my studies is really putting me at tight spot. International students have to struggle more than local students over here. To give you an example, let me tell that there was this part of my transfer where I had spend _an entire day_ waiting for them to give me the clear for my student's passport. And even now, the academy's administration's still calling me to the office to deal with administration stuffs!**

 **So, to summarize, I've been very busy.**

 **But we all know that that's not really a reason.**

 **So, until then.**

* * *

 **1: I really like the look of this gun. And, uh, it's far more believable to have this rather than something like an, I don't know, M6 "Lynx"** **Gepárd** **anti-material sniper rifle?**

 **2: I was listening to _No Guardian Angel_ by when writing this.**

 **3: Cookies to everyone who can figure out why I chose Sunshine as Hinata's code name.**


	9. Small Steps

**Let's see if I still remember this story...**

* * *

"So... your name is Hikigaya Komachi-chan, right?"

"Yes..."

Naruto could not blame Yui for not saying anything else after that. What had transpired earlier at the road cross had made things a little bit too heavy too carry, and this conversation was one of those things. If he had brought a book with him, he would have used it as an escape... but something was telling him that none of his club mates would appreciate it if he did that.

Yukino was more or less in the same tangent as Naruto. She could do without the heavy atmosphere, but at the same time, her mind was racing somewhere else. She gave the boy sitting beside her subtle glances; she made sure not to get found out, as she knew that the blonde was really keen.

He risked his life to save Komachi. If his timing was a little bit off, things could have gotten messy... both figuratively and literally. She shook her head, derailing herself from that particular track of thoughts. But if there was one question that lingered... it was why.

Why risk his life?

It would have not been his fault if Komachi was... okay, she really need to stop thinking along those lines.

"A-Ano..."

All three teenagers turned their focus to the youngest among them. As expected, the middle schooler looked and felt uneasy. She had just experienced a close encounter with death, after all.

"T-Thank you for saving me... Onii-san." She bowed her head from where she was sitting, facing the general direction of the resident blonde. "If you didn't..."

Before she could finish what she was about to say, the male's voice cut her speech. "Don't think about it. The more you think about it, the more you'll recall the event." He stared at her with listless yes, his tone similar to boredom. "It won't do you any good." He paused.

"But... you're welcome."

Watching the interaction, Yui smiled, though subtly.

"A-Anyway, Komachi-chan, t-those girls were bullying you, right?"

Whatever heavy atmosphere that had been lifted up to the ceiling, descended back again, making things as uncomfortable as it was a minute ago. Visibly, the youngest female averted eye contact from her seniors. She made all the available gestures for a person who wanted nothing more but to avoid the topic. But unfortunately for her, two of the three older teens were too keen to let go.

"It's... complicated." Despite the amount of breath she took in, it was all that she could say. Her eyes turned downcast, refusing to look anywhere above the forty five degree angle she had cast.

"..." A pair of cloudy blue eyes could only watch in silence.

"It's been like this ever since I knew it... hahaha." Hollow laughter. "And, yeah."

"Have you talked about this to your teachers?" The Yukinoshita princess did not waste any time barraging her set of questions. "If you report this to your homeroom teacher, he or she will have to bring it up to the PTA."

Yukino was expecting hesitant nods or something of similar gesture. She was not, however, expecting empty laughter to come out of the young girl's lips.

"The _teachers_? _PTA_? What will _they_ do?" A heavy sigh escaped the girl's lips. "You know, at first, she was really convincing. She told me that she'd talk to the other girls about it. But, the next day, the exact same thing happened again; on the same classroom, at the same time, done by the same people to the same _me_."

It was obvious from the way she emphasized some of the words she said that she this was not something she brought nor wished upon herself. She opened her mouth again,

"At some point, I got tired of trying to 'tell' the teachers. Because every time they hear I ratted them out to the teachers, things get worse." The words died quickly in her mouth. "It... It was useless. I got sick of trying to tell the teachers more than the stuffs they made me do."

Silence followed soon after Komachi finished talking. The timing was perfect, as a waitress arrived to place their orders on the table. She set down a cup of steaming green tea in front of Yukino, a cold glass of chocolate milk in front of Yui, a mug of hot coffee in front of Naruto and a glass of orange juice in front of Komachi.

The only boy in the group grabbed the drink he ordered, wasting no time to take small sips of the bitter liquid. Out of everyone at the table, his expression was the only neutral one; as in he was not showing any at all. It might be due to him being a person who was easily bored, but he also had no idea on what to say.

This was a situation new to him, after all, it had only been a year and a half ever since he entered this 'high school life' business... excluding the part where he was actually working together with a mysterious organization desperate on trying to ruin his previous employer...

"So, Komachi-chan... what are you going to do after this?"

As they engage in their conversation, the waitress that came with their drinks earlier returned with a tray filled with three doughnuts of their choice. A plate filled with strawberry icing and sprinkles doughnut was placed in front of Yui, Yukino had a matcha filling doughnut filled place placed in front of her, Naruto had a simple but respectable plate of sugar glazed doughnut placed in front of him and Komachi got her plate full of Oreo and cream filling doughnut.

"Huh, obviously..." The middle schooler with the weird hair trailed off, her hand idly reaching to grab one of the Oreo flavored doughnut in front of her. "I'm going home. My curfew's up in just an hour."

"T-This early!?" Yui blinked, the strawberry sprinkled doughnut she was about to chomp was halfway to her mouth. "Not even mama is this strict with me..."

Unknown to Yui, Yukino did not miss the way Komachi's shoulders slump at the mention of 'mama'. Quietly reaching for her treat, the black haired princess nibbled with the elegance of one.

Meanwhile, the blonde dipped his sugar glazed treat into his drink, earning a look of pure disappointment from the black haired girl sitting beside him, before eventually consuming it in one gulp.

"Y-Yeah... anyway, as for tomorrow..." the girl took longer to answer this time. "I guess I'll just call in sick." She shrugged her small shoulders. "I don't really wanna see their faces after what happened today."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Regardless of what he said about his lack of experience in school problems (a.k.a: bullying), he was a little bit impressed at how well Komachi was taking this. Though... that could either mean she was used to all the things she went through or she really, _really_ had a plan worked out somehow, someway.

"...under normal circumstances, I would have said something against both." This quip came from none other than the resident Yukinoshita herself. She put down her cup back on the table, setting down as she was about to resume her speech. "But seeing as what transpired today... I'm sure my moral standards could look the other way. And I'm sure that those... _girls_ are _at least_ smart enough to keep quiet if they know what's best for them themselves."

Just the sheer haughtiness radiating from her voice and demeanor as she said those words made Komachi laugh. This drew out confused looks from the three high school students, who were looking at the laughing girl with their own respective, questioning looks.

"...ahahaha... haaaah..." after one lengthy period of laughing, Komachi took in a deep breath of air. "Honestly... it's been a long time ever since I laughed like that."

Unfortunately, Yui and Yukino could not share her smile.

With a smile that was leaning on the... mischievous side of the scale, Komachi looked at the three teens right on the eyes, especially her blonde savior.

"You know, not even the world's funniest joke could rival the sheer laughter fuel I'm getting when I recall their terrified expression." She took a sip of her orange juice to water down her throat and moisten her lips.

"The way their faces transformed when they realized that they just committed murder – but spoiler alert, I didn't die – was sooooo funny I'm sure that I'll still be laughing about it when I reach home, take a bath and when I'm on my bed before sleep. Heck, I think that I'm going to dedicate the entirety of tomorrow just so that I can laugh about it all to myself! You know, I bet that they won't even dare to come near me after what happened today! Which kind'a sucks because I really, _really_ want to see their faces when they remembered what they almost did to me today."

As the young girl went on, both teens sunk into a moment of silence; silence which was way heavier and more uncomfortable than the one before.

"Man, I bet they'll be so scared!" She was raising her voice. Unknown only to her. "Think about how much leverage I have against them. I'll have them do cleaning duties for a week straight! Like what they made me do for the whoooooole month last time! Or! Or maybe, I can have them do my homework for me! God knows they love making me do theirs for them! Or, even better..."

She took one deep breath.

"They can line up near the crossroad three minutes away from here and let me push them off while a semi truck is driving through the lane they're falling on!"

"Man! This is the happiest day of my life! Who would've thought that a near death experience could give this much happiness, huh? Huh?! _HUH?!_ "

At that point, everyone present inside the establishment had their head turned towards their table. People stopped chattering, their focus aimed intently on the young girl who was now risen up from her seat, with something glistening at the corner of her eyes.

The three teenagers sitting on the same seat as the girl could not do anything but watch.

"I... don't..." her voice finally broke after all that screaming. "I... don't want... _I never..._ "

She could not finish what she was saying.

"Cry." Yui smiled, rubbing the younger girl's back softly in circular motions. "It's okay... cry."

Unable to hold herself back any longer, she let go of her tears right there in Yui's arms.

As she cried her tears out, the people's attention on them began to fade. The figured it was just your typical typical family drama or something similar, which was not the case. In Yui's arms, she cried, muffled by the pink haired girl's blazer.

The other two teens watching the scene were witnessing with different expressions. Yukino allowed herself a small smile, one that she rarely ever made; while Naruto was staring blankly like someone deep in thought. After a while, around five minutes or so, the crying stopped; and Komachi was in speaking conditions again.

"T-Thank you... Onee-san..." murmured the girl, sniffing into the tissue that was nearby for her to use.

"It's fine." Yui smiled, feeling nothing but genuine happiness. "Ah, by the way, we haven't introduced ourselves have we?" she asked aloud. "Well, I'm Yuigahama Yui and these are my club mates."

"Hello." the black haired beauty started. "I am Yukinoshita Yukino. I'm the club president of our humble club. Please to meet you, Komachi-san." She may sound and look all prim and proper, but Komachi could sense kindness from her.

Finally, all turned to the last member of the service club.

"I'm... Naruto, no last name." he stopped there. But to his confusion, they were still staring at him. So, he continued. "And I'm... not from... Japan?"

All three females blinked, before giggling in unison, much to the boy's further confusion.

"Ufufufu...! Something tells me that you're not very good at talking to people, Naruto-oniisan."

At Komachi's spot on remark, he could only shrug his shoulders.

His reaction served only to intensify their giggling even further. He figured that there was no way of him finding out even should he ask them. So, he did the only thing he could.

Drink his coffee, while thinking that it was not his business anyway.

* * *

Afterwards, they reported to the police station as instructed to them by the paramedics that they contacted earlier. Each of them went through separate questioning by the officers but that went quicker than expected. Of course, as per their customs, Komachi's parents were immediately called. The three teenagers watched as Komachi's parents arrived with nothing but worry on their faces as they smother their daughter in questions.

But after the talk in the donut joint earlier this evening, they were a little bit skeptical.

Thankfully, they were all let go easily; seeing as one of the street's CCTV surveillance camera caught the clip of the event from start to finish. Komachi's parents asked whether they could have the clip, seeing as it could be use as evidence in court, but that was a story for another time. Now outside, the three Soubu students were about to leave, until...

"Oh, hey, if it isn't you."

The three turned to see two police officers dressed in similar attire, but of different age range, approach them. The one who called out to them was the oldest among the two, he also had a smile on his face. The younger officer was waving his hand, a more casual grin was on his face.

From the way Naruto's face perked up upon seeing the two, it was confirmed that he knew them. "Ah, it's Kashima-san and..." he trailed off, not able to recall the name of the older officer.

"Ah, can't believe I didn't tell you my name." The man laughed. "Name's Dojima, and I see that my junior's at least memorable. It's the only thing memorable about him, apparently."

"S-Senpai!" the younger officer whined, something that looked unnatural for someone his age. "You're making me look bad in front of the kids..."

"Bah, as if you're not one yer'self, Kashima..." Dojima's junior got even more upset at the remark. "Anyway, what are you kids doing at the station? Something to report?"

"It's about an accident, officer." Yui stepped forward, making her presence recognized. "Well, it would've been an accident if Naruto hadn't interrupt..." she let it trail off with small laughter.

Dojima hummed, eyeing the girl. "I see... so he stopped an accident, eh? It's his second time doing this, miss, don't you know?" Then, his eyes widened in realization. "Wait a second... you're that girl whose puppy he saved from about a year ago!"

Yui laughed uneasily. "Y-Yeah... it's nice to meet you again, officer."

"So, what did he save this time? Another dog? Or is it a cat now?"

"It wasn't an animal this time, officer." The two officers turned to look at the girl who just entered the conversation. One would notice that Kashima's eyes were lingering southwards when looking at the girl... "It was a girl, a middle school student. Thankfully, Naruto-kun managed to save her, suffering only with light injuries."

"Ah, I see." Dojima's tone changed when he spoke to the black haired girl. She seriously reminded him of his department head. "That's great news then... reminds me of those road safety briefings that someone always complains about..."

At the older officer's not so subtle glance, Kashima recoiled. "S-Senpai! So not cool! You have to agree with me that those briefings are boring though, right?"

"They may be boring, I won't deny that, but if it means preventing something like what almost happened to that middle school girl from happening, I'd sit through it every damn morning. You should too, even if I have to drag your incompetent ass all the way from your girlfriend's apartment."

"S-Senpai..."

Sighing, Dojima turned back to the teenagers. "Well, we're glad that nothing serious happened. Let me tell you kids, it plain sucks for us to hear that something that could be easily avoided as-"

"She was pushed by the people that are bullying her." Yukino did not hesitate to bring out this new piece of fact.

Dojima's words stopped at his throat, his expression contorting to grim understanding. "...that... changes things." he muttered. "Have you spoke with the officers inside?"

"We went through questioning, and the girl's parents are inside along with the girl herself." This time, Naruto spoke out.

"Good. Good." Dojima sighed. "You know, I have a son in high school and a daughter who's still in middle school. I don't know what it is that you kids go through at school these days, but back at my days... we're more concerned about passing than things like bullying."

Things got quiet for a moment, but the sound coming from the streets were still enough indication for an early night.

"But anyway, glad that things turn out this way." Dojima flexed his neck. "From this point onwards, it's up to the parents whether or not they want to press charges... meaning that they'll have to notify the school about this incident."

Of course... he was just underlining the problems that people would have to face in the future. Naruto could just imagine what Komachi's school's faculty members would have to go through in order to convince Komachi's parents not to bring matters to court...

...which also meant that the parents of those girls involved in today's incident would also have to deal with the matters at court.

But what did he know? He's a soldier, not a politician. He was pretty sure he came out of a womb, not a rectum.

"We're just glad that Komachi-chan's safe." Yui said, smiling a little bit. "We just hope that she can deal with the aftermath at school, though." her smile faltered a little bit after saying that last part.

"Regardless, what happened could not be changed." Yukino imparted in a finalizing manner. "All we can do now is believe in the hands of those responsible for dealing with the matter. Justice will be processed accordingly in the hands of the judge."

Even the police officers present had to wince at the words heard.

"Well, Ojou-chan, they'll have to do their job; that's a given." Was all Dojima could say. "All that's left, even for enforcers like us, is to wait and see the outcome."

After the brief exchange, the two officers watched as the three teenagers disappear into the streets; their backs no longer visible. Dojima, especially, lingered his gaze a little longer, making sure that those three kids are away.

"Really, though, Senpai... that girl's unlike every other high school girl I've met." Kashima intoned, while scratching a particular part of his head underneath his cap.

"You can say that again." The senior officer sighed. "Kids these days are supposed to be different from the way we were back then... she reminds me too much of my late aunt, and that's what scares me."

"Huh." Kashima kept on scratching his head. "I don't know about your aunt, but I know for sure that she's some politician's daughter for sure."

"You can say that again, Kashima."

They parted ways moments after they left the police station. Yukino went with Yui, seeing as they were headed towards the same direction. He, on the other hand, walked home alone, passing through unfamiliar streets.

He rarely ever walk outside of his house, for the same reason why he rarely eat outside, but experiencing being in an unfamiliar area of the street had always been an exciting experience for him. He remembered his first time in Moscow, Russia.

It was exactly four months after they finished their business in the Middle East and they had been called by Headquarter to return back. Moscow was unlike everything he'd ever seen. Sure, there were tall buildings and all, but the urban experience was a whole new world he had just stepped into.

This coming from a boy who spent most of his early life in the desert and shabby shanty towns was acceptable. But then, he remembered that there would come times in the future when he would have to fight in that type of environment. Narrow alleys... wide roads... flat and even terrains... tall buildings... most of these were absent in the desert. For once, he had less covers when fighting in an open field of sand when compared to a city block filled with cars and tall apartments. But at the same time, his sense of direction would take a long time getting used if he were to fight in a densely populated urban area.

And, sure enough, it took him quite some time.

Ricochet... shrapnel... and things like impact were important issues to deal with in the field. His 'freedom' was severely limited when it came to fighting in an urban area. It felt like he was fighting with a pair of shades at night.

Or in Kakashi's words, his 'village boy senses' were too sensitive for him to work with in a narrow urban environment.

Walls were just too near for him, buildings too tall for him, sounds too loud for him and his over all awareness was in shambles. Which was why his master advised him to take walks through the streets whenever he had free time. It did not matter if he were to get lost, as long as he could get a grasp of where he was in, it was already enough.

That got him into the habit of venturing into places he had never been before. So, yeah, he got into taking long strolls for no reason or whatsoever. But lately, he had not had the luxury to take evening walks due to the position he was in. LeafCorp was a foe in the dark, but Parabellum was a friend with scopes fixed on him. Either way, he could not stand the idea of being watched by boogie men who were after him.

So, now, he was enjoying the walk as much as he could. He might not get another chance to take long walks like this one.

 **Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt...**

His feet stopped the moment he felt vibrations coming from his pants' pocket. Calmly, he reached inside to pick up his phone. Unsurprisingly, it was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

" _Hello? Is this... Naruto...san?"_

The bandaged blonde raised an eyebrow. The voice sounded familiar...

" _This is Sunshine... Hinata, the agent you helped save just earlier this morning."_

"...what is it?"

" _A-Ano... do you have time? I would like to meet up with you."_

Naruto looked up the sky. It was already dark and he did not want to risk having LeafCorp following him.

" _I... really, really, need to talk to you. It's about... an assignment."_

Well, there went his decision of going home.

"Sure. Where do you want to meet up?"

" _Where are you, right now?"_

He told her where he was generally at.

" _Ah, I'm not far from there, actually... let's meet up at a cafe called Noire? I'll send you the location to your phone's GPS."_

"Sure." He replied. "I'll see you later, then."

" _Y-Yes... see you later, Naruto...kun."_

The conversation ended, and he had a new place to be in. It's one coffee joint after the other.

* * *

It was as normal as he thought it might be; the cafe. It was a small, yet humble establishment with a simple yet homey atmosphere. Soft, elevator-like music was playing in the audio system; giving even someone like him a sense of comfort. The bell chimed, indicating his entry. He drew the attention of the barista brewing coffee behind the bar and several customers seated near the door.

But, to his surprise, someone seated at the back of the room called out to him...

"O-Over here...!"

...in a weird combination of a shout and whisper.

He looked at his caller, and the first thing he noticed was the long, purplish hair as well as the distinguishable pale skin. He made his way towards the table, weaving through the aisle like a professional walker. Once he finally got there, he noticed his company's less than alright state.

"Hi...nata-san? You're still injured. Are you sure it's okay for you to be out here?" He asked as he took a seat across the girl.

Like Naruto's assumption, Hinata was not okay. She was covered in bandages. The brace around her neck made her look all the more critical, if the bandages on her facial area were not already enough. Signs of swelling, like bluish complexion, were also evident. Naruto was worried knowing that he had ran out of bandages in his emergency first aid kit.

"I-I'm alright..." she said, but then she noticed the state the boy was in. "W-What about you? W-Was that from this morning's...?" she was referring to the thing wrapped around his forehead.

"No." Naruto shook his head lightly. "It's from a minor accident, nothing too worry about." He paused. "You on the other hand..."

"Tsunade-sama said that I'm good to go as long as I passed some of her clinical tests. They tested my balance, hearing a-and everything else... and it turned out good." Naruto just noticed but, did she have a habit of looking at the ground when talking? "I-It's fine now, really..."

The blonde nodded.

"So, as for the reason why we're having this conversation...?"

"A-Ah, that's right."

As she fumbled with her bag, Naruto just noticed that she was wearing a high school uniform. He did not recognize which school the uniform was from, but he had seen several teenagers wearing it on the way back home. It had a lot of blue, unlike Soubu's stylish black. Too bad that she was not wearing her coat, otherwise he would have figured it out from the emblem.

"H-Here it is." She brought out a clear file holder, containing nothing but brown paper documents. "T-These are documents containing everything that we managed to get from our previous snoop operations on LeafCorp's activities in Japan. M-Mind you, they are at least three months old and are only to be treated as reference only..."

He picked up the file, placing it near his side of the table. He looked at Hinata straight into her pupil-less eyes. " _Mind_ you, I know LeafCorp." He said. "I was their dog for the first half of my still ongoing life. So what makes you think that everything written in here will be news to me?"

Despite the pressure he was putting her under, and Hinata's own shy demeanor, the girl shook her head firmly. "I-I can assure you that everything written in that document is relevant information that you can utilize."

The look Naruto was giving her did not change. He was still waiting for an answer.

"W-Well, to quote what's written inside... LeafCorp have been attempting to sell military grade equipment to the Japanese Self Defense Force."

His blue eyes widened by several centimeters.

She saw the slight reaction he made, prompting her to continue. "It's b-bizzare, we know. But LeafCorp had conducted several negotiations with the Japanese defense minister and though p-prior attempts proved to be unsuccessful for them, the m-ministry might just reconsider future offers seeing as tension between Japan and a few neighboring countries are tense..."

At first, he was shocked. Surely Japan, a country which strictly _restricts_ its own armed forces on using armed force when dealing with conflicts, would not buy weapons from a well known private contractor company that easily, would it? The military was not exempted from this rule, what more the law enforcement? All high stakes incidents in Japan had all been resolved by using non-lethal methods. Take in particular the hijacking of a bus that happened in 2000, or the Neomugicha Incident as it was locally known. The Special Assault Team that responded to the incident stormed the bus and managed to apprehend the hijacker alive.

And it had been that way ever since.

But then, he realized.

"...LeafCorp isn't offering to sell guns."

Hinata nodded. "Yes. We're talking about equipment like radars, advanced weapons system and upgrades for the SDF's planes." she said with a grim aftermath to her words. "What worries us are not the radars or the weapons systems. It's the hardware upgrades for the planes that got us worried."

Naruto's glance was taken as cue for her to elaborate her point further.

"The air force is currently in a position where they had to use most of the funding to fund the development of a new fighter jet. The current Mitsubishi F-15J fighters could not keep up with the technological advancement that foreign countries have been making on their aerial line up. A-And in the past, they tried to purchase several F-22s from the United States, but weren't able to purchase any. T-Though development is technically still on progress, it was concluded by the air force's board members that upgrading the current fighters would be much better rather than spending billions on the development of a new fighter jet."

"And it took them this long to realize, why?" Hinata could only shake her head. Naruto sighed, proceeding, "Anyway... these... F-15Js are based on the F-15 Eagle that the JASDF _already_ owns, right?" he looked at Hinata with one eye, hinting her if there was anything wrong with his question.

"W-Well, yes, but if we're talking spec-wise, I-I'm not sure I'd be a very good person to discuss it with..."

Understandable. Hinata did not strike him as a person who was into aerial vehicles. "But isn't it weird to you? Why the F-22? Sure, it's a great jet, but there exists multiple cheaper but more _reasonable_ replacements." He knew a few planes that came to mind.

"A-Ano... I'm not really sure..." Hinata averted her gaze. "I-It was just stated that the air force's R&D wanted a jet that was similar to the F-22 spec-wise..."

"That is **still** the problem, here, you see..." Naruto sighed. "Oh well, arguing about this would not get us anywhere. LeafCorp is going to sell upgrades for the air force's jets, we know that. Now tell me why is that a bad thing for Japan's military and why is your organization concerned about it."

"W-Well, it's Parabellum's objective to look into matters like this. W-When a well known defense contract company with enough manpower and resources to name itself a private military company started offering you a deal, wouldn't that make you suspicious?"

Okay, that was a good point.

"I don't know if S-Shikamaru-kun told you this b-but, social welfare and public safety are our prime objectives." Her confidence faltered when she saw Naruto making an expression of disbelief. "I-It is, we're just very focused on LeafCorp for the past few years or so because they are the only entity that could really expose Japan into danger."

Again, a good point.

"Imagine if news about the Japanese military having involvement with a PMC like LeafCorp become the world's headline. Countries in the West will be in an uproar."

Naruto knew what Hinata meant. The U.S was very, _very_ vocal at voicing their displeasure when they hear the word 'mercenaries'. Which was why LeafCorp considered their employees as 'operatives'. It made things easier when operating in the States.

"And, not to mention, the Chinese..." the blonde concluded sparingly.

"Don't get me started." Hinata sighed. "So... I-I'm sure that you've figured out that Parabellum is a part of the Japanese government way before I said anything to you on this v-very table, right?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What if I don't?" Of course he knew that.

"Then I would get arrested, punished and locked up for the rest of my life for revealing organization secrets."

"...let's just say that I had a hunch for a while." He paused. "Is that good enough?"

Hinata smiled flimsily. "T-That's good enough." She continued. "You see, our existence is not recognized by the government at all. If I got captured at this morning's incident... no one would lift a finger to rescue me; I-I'm sure that the reason they bothered to send a rescue team after me was because they were more concerned about the reports I have with me."

He recalled how desperate Tsunade was on saving Hinata's life when she fainted this morning.

"A-And... um... I want to say... thank you." she whispered out, bowing her body slightly. "I heard from Shikamaru-kun that y-you were the one who provided sniper fire for my escape. W-Without you... I would've been..."

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This was the second time today he receive a 'thank you' for saving someone's life. He wouldn't lie that it felt good, but knowing how persistent Japanese people were when it comes to things like courtesy and manners... it was a little bit irritating.

"It's... no problem." He needed to make a point. "I've dealt with worse."

At his last remark, Hinata raised her head. "I-I'm sure... but you're still amazing to me... it felt like I had a guardian angel watching over me." she smiled. "I owe you a lot, N-Naruto-kun."

 _'Deja vu...'_ He mused inside his head, before saying, "You don't owe me anything." He tapped the brown paper file near him. "This is enough... for now at least."

Hinata smiled. Despite the bandages on her face, or the brace around her neck, she still looked beautiful.

After a cup of tea – more coffee in Naruto's case – they went their separate ways. As he watched Hinata's form disappearing into the night road, he could not help but wonder what made her involve herself into this whole mess? She struck him as a normal high school girl. Good looks and gave off the persona of someone who would do well in her studies, so, why on earth was she an agent for Parabellum?

Then again... if someone unexpected like Saika turned out to be an assassin, maybe seeing Hinata as who she turned out to be should not surprise him at all. It made him think, actually. He thought that he was one of the few rare cases of underage exposure to conspiracy conflicts, him being a child soldier and all that. Saika... Hinata... they were teenagers just about his age. Normal people would find it odd and downright repulsive for people his age to be involved in the things they were in... then again, he was not normal. Nothing about him was normal, at all.

The blonde shook his head, brushing the train of thoughts aside, leaving it there on the pavement he was walking on. It was officially nighttime already and he was supposed to be home three hours ago. Forget exposure, if LeafCorp did not get anything about him from the past three hours, he would be surprised.

"Hm?"

He momentarily stopped, letting his right foot end his advances. On the distance, near a building with a large banner that advertised tutoring of high school to pre-college lessons, he saw someone standing near the door wearing his school's uniform.

It was a female, tall and he felt a sense of deja vu when he laid eyes on her. He could not quite remember where he saw her, but if she was someone from his school, he might have spoken to her or at least seen her once.

She looked like she had just finished her lessons for the day and was about to go home. He did not know that cram-schools – if he used that term correct – dismissed their students this late. She was busy with her phone, before clasping it shut, and walking off; presumably towards the direction of her home.

Naruto shrugged. He did not recognize her. Oh well, what could he do?

After the small pause, he resumed his walk, heading towards the direction of his home.

Surprisingly, things had been quiet for the past two days. Parabellum had not received any threats from any suspicious individual or group and LeafCorp – aside from the boring interviews he had seen from the TV – had been silent about everything.

Of course, even the flimsiest of minds could figure out that the things mentioned above was not reassuring at all.

This meant that LeafCorp was planning, if they had not have anything carried out yet... he sure hoped that Parabellum would do something about themselves. He might not admit it, but he would not deny their usefulness and abilities. They were right to be suspicious of LeafCorp, because his previous employer was anything if not so. He had been given enough assignments to know that the agency – it was basically one – knew what it was doing. The brilliant minds behind the organization also helped making their plans executable and reasonable too, so there was that.

But from what he had observed, the organization was lacking when it came to combat.

Maybe he could do something about that?

* * *

Anyone observing him from outside his perspective might thought that he was thinking to himself, since he was looking self-immersed and all that. Well, they were not wrong. He had a habit of being completely rock-faced when it came to thinking. If he had anything to blame, he would blame it on sniper training.

Those flashbacks of having to stay still on the same spot for three days straight without any movement were not exactly pleasant. The fact that he had to take muscle relaxant drugs in order to prevent his body from unnecessarily moving when waiting to pop a hole on some to-be dictator did not help either, he was lucky enough he did not develop an addiction unlike some of his old co-workers.

Currently, he opted to enjoy his simple lunch of egg and ham sandwiches and a small carton of milk without people's prying eyes. Meaning he was eating on the roof.

No one come up here during lunch, despite what Japanese entertainment media – a.k.a manga and anime– would have to say. Even so, he should not be out here for too long. His enemy had eyes and they know how to use them.

He made a quick work of his sandwiches, munching on them with the speed of a marine recruit who was minutes away from being late for personal inspection. The carton of milk was downed in a matter of seconds, leaving behind nothing, not even a single drop of liquid cow essence.

He gathered the trash that had accumulated after his meal, packing them into one plastic bag for him to throw later. Standing up, he made his way for the door.

"Ugh."

"Kuh...!"

He grunted when the door abruptly swung open, hitting him square on the nose. It was so quick, not even his trained reflex could have prevented that, not to mention he was only inches away from the door itself.

He dropped to his knees, them being the only things that prevented him from hitting the ground face-first.

"S-Shit... are you okay?"

It seemed that whoever pushed the door to his face was a female, judging by the voice... or it could be a very, very, feminine male.

One person came to mind.

The pain was stinging, but it was nothing foreign. He looked up, greeted face first to a pair of of womanly assets.

Okay, female confirmed.

"I'm fine." The pain was messing up with his accent. The words came out like it was spoken by a bleeding Russian who was trying to speak Japanese while he was bleeding.

He felt the girl's arm trying to help him stand and he was slightly surprised by her strength.

"There... shit, you're bleeding."

 _'No shit...'_ He could feel thick, warm liquid trickling down his nose. Two days straight of bleeding. Great. And he was not a merc anymore.

"Hol' up, lemme get some tissue for that..." the girl, who managed to get several piece of tissue paper from the pack confined inside her breast pocket, got a good look of the boy.

Her eyes widened and her body froze. She swore that her blood was like ice water.

Images of cold, tundra-like blue eyes flashed in her head. The sensation accompanied by those eyes was felt once again, when she finally recognized who the person before her was. Her legs shivered, she was struggling to stand straight.

To the boy, it looked like she was about to sneeze.

The girl, realizing that she was quivering like a grade schooler who was just about to enter the dentist, steeled herself; regaining her composure after the momentary slip of face.

"H-Here you go..." she said, offering the tissue she just plucked out to him. "A-An' you should go see the nurse if it's still bleeding..."

"Ah... thank you." He blinked, but his hand reached out to take the papers from her.

He recognized her. She was the same girl he saw yesterday; the one who was standing in front of the cram school institution.

"Hey..."

He peeked from behind a hand full of tissue. "Hm?"

"The roof is off limits, don't you know?"

He blinked. "No. I do not." He said. "It was always unlocked when I come here, so I assume that it was fine."

He saw her sigh. Was it disappointment? "They must've picked the locks again... well, now you know. I was actually here to see if any more of you guys are here without permission..." she trailed off. "What were you doing here, anyway?"

"Eating."

"...I see." What could she say? She had done that in the past. "But... don't you, like, have friends to eat wit'?"

"...I do, but, I needed to think for myself." His reply was subdued. "That's why I'm up here."

After hearing his reply, the girl could only mouth a silent 'Oh'.

"So... just get down from here, mm'kay?" the blue-silver haired girl said, scratching the back of her neck in an unladylike manner. "Else yer' getting me into trouble too."

"Alright."

After letting her lock the door to the roof, they went downstairs. He was sure to keep a memo about the roof being restricted... and the lock being weak for future reference.

"Now, are you sure 'yer fine?"

He raised a hand, holding the bloody tissue. "It's not bleeding anymore, as long as I don't touch it, it won't come out."

She nodded. "Good... but I still feel bad 'fer doing it t'you."

He shrugged. "It's fine... really."

"Sure, whatever you say then." He was pleased that she knew when not to be difficult. "You heading to class?" She asked.

"I guess?" He responded.

"Great. Tell the teacher that I'll be late. I... need to get some things to the faculty office."

He waited a few seconds to give his reply. "Sure." So she was his classmate?

"Thanks."

They parted ways.

When he was about to take the corner, he cut his advances to hide himself behind the wall. Technically, it was not hiding, since had no problem of being spotted if caught.

He could hear her footsteps returning back to the stairs, before ascending upstairs to the 'restricted' roof.

"...liar."

Without any more words other than that, he returned to class.

* * *

It was like lightning.

And by 'it' he meant the golden haired Adonis body slamming their school's judo club members down to the tatami mat floor.

"Ippon!"

A solid, perfect throw which caused an opponent to land on his back done with great control would score you one point. This was the second Ippon he had done in this match.

Not counting the countless others he did to the rest of the judo club members prior to this match.

The referee, their Physical Educations teacher, was overseeing the match with undivided focus and interest. His expression was akin to someone to was watching a professional judo tournament in the Olympics or somewhere similar. His teacher was intently observing the match, as if it was his sole purpose. His eyes were keen, they paid attention to the way each fighters grapple each other to land the successful throw displayed earlier by one of them.

To, Saika, however, he was looking at a one sided match.

Wait, scratch that, it seemed like that to everybody watching.

Saika knew how the blonde transfer student fought. He did, after all, got beat into literal black and blue by the guy himself. The way he fought was... brutal, to say the least. Grapples, scratches, hitting below the belt, targeting soft spots like eyes... all in all, the blonde fought like a true soldier.

Saika was taught to fight in that similar manner. To use every part of his body as a weapon to a point where he was never 'unarmed' and to strike where it mattered. So to people like Saika and Naruto, a judo fight would greatly limit their fighting potential. Judo especially. But what intrigued Saika was not the successful hip throws or the many Ippons the blonde had scored, but it was the blonde's technique.

When Naruto handed his ass to him back then inside the lockers room, he did not see any hint of a judo fighter fighting. All he saw was a man trained to fight to kill trying to apprehend him.

But now, the blonde was not showing any of that.

"Ippon!"

The crowd watching cheered. This was his third Ippon this round. Since time was an issue – everybody was needed to at least perform one judo kata – they had restricted the match to three consecutive throws, regardless of quality. Not all of them were wearing judogi, in fact, those who were wearing them were only judo club members.

The whiskered blonde, his face ridden with sweat from his one sided club-shaming feat, raised to full height after he had knocked down the judo team's captain on his back. He offered his hand to the captain, which he took. The gym teacher was extremely pleased to see this, Saika noted.

"Alright! We'll be having a ten minutes break! Since all the boys are done with their turn, now it's time for the girls!"

Most of the female populace whined as one, complaining about not wanting to do it. Saika tuned out their teacher's reprimand to the fairer gender, as he walked to the sidelines of the gymnasium to grab his water bottle.

On his way to retrieve his bottle, he could see judo club members – and the captain himself – approaching the tall blonde. Despite after having their bodies literally thrown to the ground by the blonde, they all had smiles on their face. Saika watched the scene, shaking his head. As he quenched his thirst by drinking from his bottle, he noticed a familiar shade of pink hair possessed by no one other than Yui blurring over to the blonde.

As he saw this, he diverted his gaze somewhere else. Somewhere outside of the scene that was currently playing out at one part of the gym.

To be perfectly honest, Saika knew that Naruto knew about Yui's... feelings for him. But the jerk was not doing anything about it. He's calling him a jerk not because he knew that Naruto was ignoring Yui's feeling, but because the guy was a jerk for him, as simple as that. And he couldn't fault the jerk for not doing anything about it. He knew full well the kind of life they were living. Making contact with those around you would bring them nothing more than even more problems in the future when it was time for them to disappear.

At least that was the case with him. In his life living as a Russian-born Japanese citizen, he had attended four different schools, all of them which he had no single recollection about aside from important details like the school's name or the class he was in. People come and go. That was the case with him. From one place to the other, even after those efforts of keeping his phone's number, those people never made any contact with him.

He was not complaining, do not mistake him, he was just making a point.

It was no use anyway. Why should he bother trying to get to know people he would forget after a few years?

But, it all changed when he found out that Naruto was attending Soubu.

He made contacts. Changed his demeanor. Actively socialize with people, even to a point where he had several people he considered as close 'friends'. Of course, there was a point in all of this. Alibis.

He needed to prove to them that he was not a threat and that the boy known as Totsuka Saika was just an ordinary half Japanese student attending school at Soubu in class 2-F. Everything from his grades, his looks and his position as club president for the tennis club was all scripted by him.

...that and he enjoyed tennis as a hobby at one point.

It's all a farce. A fake. The existence known as Totsuka Saika was a fake.

Heck, Totsuka Saika was not even his real name.

It's-

"Nikolay."

Saika froze, his grip around the bottle he was holding in one hand nearly came undone.

"Heeeh... so he's a Russian tennis player, huh?"

"Yeah, his name is Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko. He was a former professional tennis player from Russia. If you're into tennis like me, you'd know who he is."

"For sure, you're in the tennis club after all."

The two boys, one of which was a tennis club member Saika recognized, walked past him. Saika did not turn around, but he let out a small gust of breath.

"That was awesome Naruto! I did not know you do judo!"

The center of everyone's – well not really – attention used the towel draped around his neck to wipe the sweat that had gathered around his facial area.

Naruto leaned backwards, stretching his neck along the motion. "Not officially. I... got interested in it for a while after watching several official matches on the television."

"So, you used to practice often, Naruto-kun?" Even the Prince of Soubu himself, Hayama Hayato, was intrigued by his fellow blonde's display of technique and competence at the earlier match.

"Sometimes." The whiskered blonde replied with a shrug.

Naruto tuned out the rest of the questions fired at him, his focus being entirely else. Though his eyes were not directed at the specific direction, he could feel Saika's stare all the way from where the Russian was standing. He could even tell that it was not a friendly one.

But nevermind that, the boy was smart enough to not do anything.

Everyone, after a few more laid back minutes of pestering the blonde foreigner, eventually disperesed to do their own thing. Yui was dragged by her friends away and he was left to his lonesome again.

In his time at school, Naruto noticed something.

Yui and her friends were like adhesive that glued him together with the rest of his peers. Without them, it was pretty much impossible for him to talk much less conduct an conversation with the others. There were exceptions, but he had observed that it was easier for others to approach him when people like Yui or her friends approached him first.

Being immersed in his thinking, his reaction to notice the phone vibrating inside his gym bag was delayed. Crouching down, the ex-merc reached inside to grab his phone.

The screen displayed the SMS icon, followed by a caller ID and the message itself.

 **From: Kage (Shikamaru)  
**

 **It's time. Meet me at the usual place after school. As soon as possible.**

Those three short sentences were important enough to have his eyebrows curled and lips straightened. Wordlessly, he turned the screen of his phone back off, placing it back inside his bag.

 _'Five more hours until school's over... wonder what they'll have for me.'_

* * *

"Haruno, thank you for coming today."

"Maa, it's nothing mother dearest. I was not busy today anyways, things went quicker in university and the professors let me off earlier."

The Yukinoshita matriarch's skeptical gaze indicated that she was somewhat doubtful of her eldest daughter's claim. But Haruno could not blame her for giving her that look; their conversations tend to start off with either of them lying.

A prominent political figure the Yukinoshita's may be, the family knew when and how to keep themselves off prying eyes. The Yukinoshita residence, despite it being a large and lavish place, was not as overbearing or boisterous as the common upper class's place of living. Their so called 'mansion' was in fact an old office building remodeled to fit the family's needs.

Each floors have their respective uses and purposes. The main floor through the thirtieth floor was the family's privately owned corporation's headquarters while the remaining five were the family' private penthouse and mansion hybrid. It was still fancy, she assured you, but Haruno knew two or three important people in Japan with even more extravagant residence.

This, however, was not the place they grew up in; she along with her sister. Their original place was in Tokyo, a large house, more than enough to provide her and her sister with everything they need, and it felt more... homey than the one they have now. The family's main house now was located here in Chiba. They moved when Haruno was younger.

"Please, take a seat."

At her mother's beckon, Haruno occupied one of their penthouse's sofas. The simple – and Haruno used the word sarcastically – decorations of the room seemed to be doing an adequate job in replicating the home-like atmosphere that most living rooms have. But seeing as they were at the thirty something floor of a high rise building, certain aspects seemed to be hard to replicate.

But Haruno was not here to think about trifling matters such as those. Her mother called her here for one thing: business.

"I trust that you are up to date as to what have been happening lately?"

"Of course, mother." The oldest of the Yukinoshita sisters replied, her tone made to sound pleasing to her mother. "Father have been keeping me up with everything revolving his position in the diet."

A look of annoyance crossed the mother's face, but it was quickly dispersed with the composure that only Yukinoshita Yukine had. "I am not refering to your father's matters, Haruno. I am talking about our family's recent endeavor with our newest partner?"

Stiffling her giggle, Haruno nodded. "Ah, silly me, of course that was what I meant." A look of displeasure was reflected upon her mother's face. "In all seriousness mother, I only know what father told me."

"Not a lot... which means."

"Yes."

Haruno loved her father. He was someone who had provided her and her sister with everything they needed and wanted. But she shared a certing degree of... displeasure at her father's complacency.

The martriarch shook her head. "Regardless, I will take it upon myself to tell you."

Haruno inched slightly closer to the edge of her seat.

"Our family is about enter a grand stage in its long standing career." started the woman. "LeafCorp, a foreign shipping and logistics company, has offered us a huge bargain."

The corner of Haruno's lips wilted slightly.

"They have expressed an interest in setting up branches of their... secondary services in Japan. Our part, as the Yukinoshita Conglomerate, is to provide them our building services for their future projects. In return, we will have access to their assets."

What her mother had just said was just the bottom line. And Haruno had heard of even more interesting deals.

"These assets are not limited to buildings, or even shares. We are talking freighter ships, logistic convoys, manpower and maybe even certain creative aspects. At the same time... for every project they made us build, they will provide us with all the funds necessary to ensure that it is built. Aside from the architech work and building itself, we are not required to do anything else."

Haruno noticed something. Her own smile was slipping. Instead, it was her mother who was smiling now.

Trust her when she said that she rarely saw her mother smiling outside of formalities or events to entertain guests. In their private time like this, her mother had never smiled before, not even after successful trade deals or anything similar. But today, the woman known as the Chiba's Doberman, was smiling as if she had just heard an amusing story.

It was something like a once in a lifetime experience, hence why she would bury the sight in her memories until her death.

"That's... great news. For us."

"Indeed, for us." And just like that, the smile was gone. "I may have only known Namikaze-san, the acting director for LeafCorp in Japan, but something tells met hat he is not a fool. Surely, he and his organization intends to receive something out of this."

"Yes, of course." Naturally. "But what do you think it might be, mother? The offers he gave you are unlike anything the company has ever received before."

"It's a little too early to be suspicious of someone, dear." Yukine dug out the suspicion that Haruno was heavily implying. "During the brief meeting at their headquarter, I was told that LeafCorp intend to set up a firm foothold in the Japanese economy. In doing so, they'll require places to conduct their operations, hence why they have offered us this deal. We will do every future projects they have in mind and in return, we have access to the things I've mentioned."

The kimono clad oriental woman raised one of her eyebrows slowly.

"And if I am not mistaken... the eldest of the Uchiha siblings is currently employed by LeafCorp, is he not?"

"Y-Yes... did Mikoto-san told you about it?" Her nervousness was showing. She needed to calm down; put her mask on. Not that it would do much knowing her mother.

"Indeed." The woman of the family confirmed, nodding her head slightly. "The matter entered our conversation the last time we had a get-together."

 _'Then that means_ _ **I**_ _entered their conversations too...'_ thought Haruno, while internally screeching out in frustration.

"Speaking of which..." the eldest daughter winced for jinxing herself. "How are you and their eldest son, hm? I've heard from Shigure that you two were having a get together sometime this week?"

"We did." replied Haruno, a perfectly smile to match her mother's stoic front. "But it was just to catch up. Last I heard, he was quite busy with work. I wonder... what is it that LeafCorp does anyway?"

Her mother straightened her back, taking a moment to fix her position before answering her daughter's question. "I've heard rumors about them. On paper, they are private contractors. They provide security services to people like us and companies around the world. But... some report them to be something akin to a private military or something similar."

"Surely, this is a concern for you right, mother?"

"It was, for a while." Yukine paused, before elaborating what she meant. "I've read through every government reports that I could gather about LeafCorp. They followed the government's regulations and whatever services they are offering here have been approved by the diet."

Her mother tilted her head in a way that showed her confidence in her decision and words.

"I see no reason to doubt them."

Haruno did not know what else to say. It's not like she could derail her mother from whatever corporate-fueled train tracks her mother had jumped on now. And, just like Itachi, she couldn't do anything. There was never a real decision for her to make. Everything had always been set in stone by her mother.

"Although, that does not mean that I trust them either."

Seemingly, from within the sleeves of her kimono, she pulled out a small rectangular tablet device. The Yukinoshita matriarch placed the device on her desk, causing Haruno to shift her attention.

"Earlier this morning, an accident occurred in their major storage warehouse compound." Haruno stepped forward, allowing herself a clearer look of what was it that her mother wanted her to see.

Gas Explosion Causes Alarm Throughout The Neighborhood!

"A gas explosion." Haruno summarized the headline of the article she was reading. "This morning..." She returned the tablet back on the desk, returning her sight to her mother. "So a technical accident?" she asked.

"Namikaze-san, LeafCorp's representative here in Japan, issued that it was just that earlier this evening." The seemingly cold woman informed clinically. "We are to understand our partner better before making huge and impactful decisions."

 _'So basically, three strikes then out, huh?'_ Haruno mused quietly in her head. Haruno's smile returned. For once, her air of confidence and mystery managed to naturally form in the presence of her mother.

"You are familiar with the eldest Uchiha heir, Haruno." Her mother began, words unfiltered and raw. Ruthless raw. "Get to know him and see if he's as gentlemanly as his mother said he is."

Like a broken record, Haruno can only say, "Will do, mother."

...like always.

* * *

 **Huzzah.**

 **A surprise update from me. /sarcastic**

 **Well, anyway, got something to say here so it'll mean a lot if you people read this.**

 **While this... slump is still isn't over yet, you all know that I still, often, sometimes, release new stories or one shots and things like that. This update is special because I recently got back into this type of writing. I have my roots in writing this kind of fictions, but that's beside the point.**

 **Just wanna tell you folks that I might just release chapters for this series more often in the future. So... that's something to look up to, I guess?**

 **Writing, lately, hasn't been on my mind or heart since I've been very focused on my studies and jobs. Of course I do have free time, but writing's just not a part of them anymore. It feels nice to be able to release this chapter. It gives me a sense of satisfaction even if I'm the one writing this myself.**

 **Well, let's just hope that my flame burns long enough.**


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